You may have read about gold rushes in children’s books.  Parents once read stories to their children of the Kimberley mines in Johannesburg.  That semi-desert in 1886 grew within ten years to the size of Cambridge and today houses some 15 million.   That is a goldrush city.   It would have been fun to have been a part of that.  People went to dig, to entertain, set up hotels, sell things, make a fortune!  Famously hardware stores with shovels were the biggest winners. 

So where are the Gold Mines of today?  Lots of talk about the value of gold as the ultimate negative asset, but the fever is right here in front of you, just an aeroplane ticket away.  An entrepreneurial friend wanted to rent a flat in San Francisco this year to help launch his tech business.  When the landlord asks for payment not in cash, but in equity in the business then you can be sure it’s a gold rush town!

This is the time to know that the world is changing, and to act.  They money is in that gold rush – new starts, venture capital, private equity and systems based technology.  Perhaps only a tiny minority of firms will win out, but the money is going there, because the upside is unlimited.  IFAs should be meeting these people, looking at these funds, investing themselves in the technology. The gold rush is here – and this time it is not about buying the gold that is dug up to be re-buried again in bank vaults.  There is a lot of money about, and a lot of tax complexity driving demand.  There has never been a better time to be an IFA.