Mike Norman, anchor, HardAssetsInvestor.com (Norman): Hi everybody, and welcome to HardAssetsInvestor.com. I’m Mike Norman, your host. Today we’re going to be talking to Andre Julian, who is the CFO of OpVest Wealth Management. Andre, welcome to the show.

Andre Julian, CFO, OpVest Wealth Management (Julian): Thank you very much for having me.

Norman: I know your company has a focus on commodities. Let’s start off right at the top of the list with gold, which recently ran up to a new all-time price high. Still not the high adjusted for inflation that we saw back in 1980. But then a pullback.

And what I’m fascinated by is this debate that is raging on right now: Are we facing a hyperinflation? Many investors think we are. Or are we facing a deflation that maybe will come about as a result of these austerity policies, these cutbacks? And what does gold do in either one of them? We know, I think in the hyperinflation. What does it do in a deflationary environment?

Julian: I think we are in a deflationary period for the short term. Obviously, they’re printing a lot of money around the world. And globally, if you look at the global economic factors, you’ll see that eventually there should be inflation just based on the amount of money that will be out in circulation.

But I don’t really buy hyperinflation right now. I think that that’s way too soon to even think that something like that could happen at the moment. But with the gold, it’s not only a hedge for inflation, it’s also becoming its own separate asset; it’s becoming a currency. And right now, currencies globally are ruling the investment world.

You have to look at the euro. Everything has fallen to the euro right now. The euro has collapsed, the stock market is having a huge retracement. And other currencies, like the Japanese yen, they’re going up, the carry trade is unwinding. So everything has to do with currencies this week, last week, probably the past month or so. So gold is now also being thought of as a currency and a safe haven.

Norman: How is it a currency? It’s not used as a means of exchange. Countries don’t accept it for payment of taxes. It’s not coined in a fashion where people can go into a grocery store and use it to purchase goods, or even to purchase services. We hear this a lot. But I don’t know how much credence this really has.

Julian: I think it’s a currency in that it’s an asset, and you can exchange that asset at a later date for a currency of your choice. And if you believe that you’re given currency — like if you’re in Europe right now, a lot of people were trading their euros for gold. If you have a weaker currency, and you think that your currency is getting weak, why not trade it in for a currency that’s going to stay strong? So again, I know we hear it, and I know that it’s a “currency.” However, it’s a tradable asset. And people like holding assets.