Farage criticised for £400,000 job promoting physical gold as pension investment | Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage has been criticized for promoting the idea that people should buy physical gold and put it into their retirement funds from his £400,000-a-year second job.

Farage receives more than four times his MP’s salary for his four-hour-a-month job at Direct Bullion, where he appears in Facebook and YouTube videos.

These include reels in which Farage explains how you can “protect and grow your wealth by transferring tax-saving gold into personal pension investments”.

But not all of the Reform UK leader’s videos include disclaimers that the value of gold can fall as well as rise, or that his comments should not be considered investment advice. It also doesn’t mention storage costs or point out that gold doesn’t generate regular income in the form of interest or dividends.

Tom McPhail, a retirement expert and director of the Pension Policy Institute, called the idea that people should convert part of their pensions into physical gold “niche” and suggested it was only suitable for sophisticated investors.

“There is nothing inherently wrong with holding real gold,” he said. “But you have to look at transaction and storage costs and everything in general. These are pretty niche things.

“For 90 per cent or more of the population, go into your workplace pension, go into a default fund, have a mix of bonds and stocks as well as property and cash. Just do that. [buying physical gold] They must be very knowledgeable investors. “This is simply not suitable for most people and should only be done by someone who understands how physical gold fits into a diverse portfolio.”

He added: “You could argue it’s just acting as a billboard, saying: ‘How about investing in gold? Talk to these guys, who’ll tell you the details.’ But it feels pretty irresponsible. Farage has a strong brand. Not everyone loves it, but some really love it. So when Nigel tells you to invest in gold, you can dutifully do as he says. “If I were to invest all my money in gold, it would be a very risky thing indeed.”

Tom Brake, chief executive of Unlock Democracy, said he had referred Direct Bullion videos promoted by Farage to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and asked them to investigate whether online material met its standards and fell within its regulatory orbit.

emphasized two videos Where There was no disclaimer.and pointed to another place where he said the disclaimer at the end was written in a very small font and looked very ephemeral and was a danger. the viewer may not be able to see this.

Asked whether it was appropriate for an MP and political leader to suggest that people use their pension funds to buy gold without making any representations that the value could rise or fall, or explaining that gold does not generate a regular income, or clarifying any storage costs, a Reform UK spokesman said the party “pityed the Guardian as they had nothing better to do with their time than measure font sizes”.

Farage said: “For five years I have publicly advised people to invest a reasonable amount of money in gold. Since I began my relationship with Direct Bullion, people who follow my advice will see their money return in excess of 100%.”

Direct Bullion did not respond to requests for comment. Reform UK sources said Farage had a working relationship with Direct Bullion before his time as an MP.

Promoting the company’s physical gold bars and coins is one of the many jobs Farage has done during his time as MP for Clacton.

The reform leader is a presenter on GB News and has received a salary of around £450,000 for the role since entering parliament. He is also a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, earning £48,000 a year, and a commentator for Sky News Australia, which pays him more than £50,000 a year.

Other retirement experts said putting gold into pensions could be part of a diversified portfolio. Kate Marshall, leading investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Gold can play a useful role in a diversified retirement portfolio, but it is important to keep it proportionate.

“We prefer to gain exposure through exchange-traded commodities (ETCs), such as the iShares Physical Gold ETC, which seek exposure to physical gold. ETCs are one of the simplest ways to invest and can be a low-cost way to add exposure to gold to an investment portfolio.”