A Year in Review & Festive Thanks from Ainslie

As 2024 draws to a close, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on an extraordinary year and express my deepest gratitude to you, our valued customers. Thank you for choosing Ainslie for your bullion and crypto needs. Especially these days, in a world filled with choices, your trust and loyalty mean the world to us. Your continued support inspires us to strive for excellence every single day and improve the experience for the next time you choose us.

This festive season, I wish you and your family love, peace, joy, and happiness. May this time of year bring warmth and togetherness as you celebrate with your loved ones wherever this finds you in whatever weather that is, sun for us Aussies and snow for the northerners (how good is it to swim at a beach in December!).

A Remarkable Year for the Ainslie Group
2024 has been a landmark year for the Ainslie Group. As my first year as Group CEO, I’ve been fortunate to lead this incredible group of people through a period of significant change and growth. The pace has been relentless, and the achievements have been numerous. A massive thank you to all involved that have contributed to making it a very special year. Here are just some of the highlights that made this year so memorable:

• Melbourne Office Transformation: Our Melbourne office underwent a substantial upgrade, including the addition of a new customer service office designed to allow more customers to be served at the same time, thus reducing our wait times. The team has also expanded to match this increased demand.
• Brisbane Expansion: In Brisbane, we completed a major expansion of our office to also ensure we are better equipped to meet the growing demand for our services. The customer service offices have been increased allowing more customers to be served at the same time, thus reducing our wait times (which for anyone that has visited Brisbane recently would attest to working already).
• Melbourne Vault Expansion: For those entrusting us with their precious metals and belongings, the completion of the Melbourne Vault’s future expansion area means we now have more capacity to securely store and manage your assets. The expansion has only just finished so expect to see this new area operational early 2025. If you haven’t visited or have been putting off getting your precious items into secure storage, next year is the time for you.
• Growing Our Team: To keep up with the growth above and maintain our usual high standard of customer service, we’ve recruited more talented team members across all areas of our business. These recruits join an already strong and capable team and enable us to serve you better in the years ahead.
• The Launch of Ainslie Saver: A key milestone this year has been the announcement of the much-anticipated Ainslie Saver product, set to officially launch on January 8, 2025. This innovative offering is designed to further enhance how we meet your financial needs by allowing you to dollar cost average into buying bullion with your leftover weekly or monthly cash. Log into our website from Jan 8, complete the KYC onboarding and setup your bank transfers to get this started. A great way to buy gold and silver!
• Leadership Transitions: We bid farewell to two longstanding contributors to the Ainslie legacy, Paul Engeman and Stephanie Cumming. Their dedication and leadership over the past decade or more has left a lasting impact on our business, and we wish them all the best in their retirement (you may even see them hanging around the office occasionally buying or selling gold or crypto for themselves!).
• Celebrating Milestones: This year marked Ainslie’s 50th anniversary, a half-century of serving our customers with integrity and expertise at the usual high Ainslie standard. This was a year we had all been looking forward to for some time and wow, it’s quickly already behind us, well here’s to our 75^th anniversary for those that will be around to celebrate with us. As their Primary Distributor, we also celebrated the Perth Mint’s incredible 125th anniversary, a testament to the enduring value of precious metals and investing in gold and silver.

A Historic Year in the Markets
On a broader international stage, 2024 has been a year of seismic shifts and historic milestones in the financial and geopolitical landscapes. These events have shaped the dynamics of the gold bullion, silver bullion and crypto markets, and we’ve been proud to navigate them with you. Education is a cornerstone of Ainslie and our daily written concise news and regular video Insights discussions have guided you through the implications of each along the way. 2024 also saw us launch Ainslie Research to provide even deeper dives into the macroeconomics that drives markets. If you aren’t already, you can subscribe to get this suite of education emailed to you as it drops. Here’s a summary of some of the bigger events:

• A new American President: The election of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States was received with mixed emotion with initial media mostly negative about the news, but quickly changing tact as the realisation Donald Trump was actually going to win and not only win but control all levels of American government for the next four years. Love him or loath him personally, Donald Trump is the next US president and one thing’s for sure, the world will be a very different place as a result…...
• Gold and Bitcoin Shine: Both gold and Bitcoin reached all-time highs this year, with silver not far off, underscoring their resilience and growing appeal in our uncertain times. The election of Donald Trump brought with it a pro-crypto rally seeing all time high prices in crypto, also signalling a significant shift in the regulatory landscape which is being seen as a very positive sign for crypto longer term. Gold and silver continued their march upwards doing exactly what they do in these times, navigating the uncertainty and expanding global liquidity (monetary debasement) to a tee. Those of you that have been invested in precious metals for some time will know it all too well and those of you that are recent investors are now also understanding the importance of holding precious metals in your portfolio.   
• BTC ETF Approval: The final approval of a Bitcoin ETF marked a watershed moment, further cementing crypto’s position in mainstream finance and securing its future across the world as a strategic asset. Whether it’s through an ETF or owning the product yourself, access to BTC just got a whole lot more respect. So, if 2025 is the right time for you to start your journey owning this strategic asset, get in contact with us in the new year.  
• Global Debt and Monetary Policy: The relentless growth of global debt, now estimated at $350 trillion and continually rising, and with the US interest payments alone now more than their annual defence budget, things aren’t getting any better. High inflation that has been the talk of the world since 2020, has continued to be sticky and remain higher for longer with signs of it only dropping recently but now talk of it going back up, further proving the importance of having precious metals in your portfolio. Ainslie Research dives into the importance of Global Liquidity to your investments.
• BRICS Gold Dominance: The BRICS nations have been aware of and known the importance of owning gold for some time and continued their strategic gold accumulation, now holding over 20% of global reserves as of October 2024 and collectively exceeding the reported holdings of the US in Fort Knox. These countries have been accumulating large reserves this year, in particular China who has been buying unrefined silver direct from mines to boost their reserves in these uncertain times. One thing is for sure, countries and empires come and go, but gold and silver does not and has been around for >5000 years and many more to come.  
• Key Market Events: Whether it be the collapse of Chinese property giant Evergrande, the silver market breaking the $26 handle, and/or the spectacular yen carry trade unwind we have reported on in our daily & weekly news articles, this all adds further intrigue to an already eventful year. And for our many XRP enthusiasts, the potential RLUSD launch has been an exciting prospect to watch unfold. One thing is for sure, these continued global uncertain events continue to push more customers Ainslie’s way, particularly those moving into Self Managed Super Funds, as they too see the advantage of taking control of their financial freedom away from the big end of town.

Therefore, as we reflect on these events, it’s clear that 2024 has been a year of both challenge and opportunity. Through it all, Ainslie has remained committed to supporting you with the highest level of customer service along with quality gold, silver, platinum and crypto products, empowering you to navigate these dynamic times with confidence.

Looking Ahead to 2025
As we prepare to welcome the new year (some will do at midnight, some will already be asleep), we do so with optimism and excitement for the opportunities that lie ahead. The Ainslie Group will continue to evolve, innovate, and grow to meet your needs and exceed your expectations. Learning about, buying and securely storing gold, silver, platinum and crypto has never been easier or more efficient than it is now with Ainslie.

Thank you once again for your trust, loyalty, and for choosing Ainslie. We’re honoured to serve you and look forward to continuing this journey together in 2025 and beyond.

Warm regards,
 

Michael Engeman
Group CEO, Ainslie