By Bill Armour
When I joined the Army at 18, I had no idea what I was getting into in many ways. The next 10 weeks I spent in the summer sun in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, would help mold me into the man I would be for the rest of my life. The Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage would be instilled into me permanently. These values would become staples in how I approached any task in front of me, both inside the military and outside.
I was initially drawn towards the financial sector as a means to fulfill that value of selfless service. As both a veteran and a Christian, finding a vocation that allowed me an opportunity to serve my community was especially important to me. So, the first step toward my transition into metals was having a passion. I was hopeful that this passion could be an outlet through which the Lord could use my new expertise to help others in their journey toward a stable and successful life.
Once I had identified finance as a field that was a good fit for me, I looked across the landscape of investment options. I discovered gold as an ideal alternative investment strategy. I reasoned that it had some of the same qualities as a good Soldier, airman or sailor: reliability and resilience. My time in the Military Intelligence community convinced me of the worldwide instability across every nation and every economy. I saw the way that these countries might all end in a collision course with one another, and I wanted to offer clients an asset type that could withstand these mounting global pressures.
When I had my epiphany about the value of gold and silver, I began learning everything I could about metals. I was completely enthralled. I began stacking silver and saving away what metals I could on my end. On the other hand, educating myself in the financial sector as a whole gave me a leg up when I began my metals career. Ultimately, it became evident to me during this education that the more conventional financial outlets that Americans have learned to trust with their lives, our 401 plans, and even our dollar were in the midst of a slow-burning failure that seemed too far gone to ever be undone. I wanted to act by helping people shelter themselves from it, as I realized not everyone would have the opportunity to research this with the same depth I could.
To this day, I stand out in my field because of the lessons and values I learned in the military. All service members can bring this to their employment and leverage it to be experts in their field. I wanted to be an example for other men and women in our armed forces who are seeing the same things across our financial landscape and want to prepare themselves for the storm on the horizon.
William “Bill” Armour works as a trader with Genesis Gold Group, a commodities firm focused on wealth preservation through precious metals.
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