Start with what almost nobody notices: you hold records, not assets
FACT. Your 401(k), IRA, brokerage account and bank balance are entries in ledgers maintained by custodians, transfer agents and banks. The dollars in a bank are a liability of that bank to you, insured within limits. Shares are typically held in street name. An ETF share is a claim on a trust, not on the metal itself. This is ordinary, legal and efficient — and it is also the reason a single question is worth answering deliberately: which of the things you own would still exist if you could not log in to anything for a month? For most households the answer is almost nothing, and most households have never checked.
- A bank deposit is a bank liability to you, insured to FDIC limits per depositor, per bank, per ownership category
- Brokerage holdings are usually held in street name by the broker
- A metals ETF share is a claim on a trust and its custodian, not metal in your possession
- Owned physical metal in your name has no counterparty and does not depend on a login
Describe this illustration: Split illustration of a screen showing an account balance beside a coin held in a handHide description: Split illustration of a screen showing an account balance beside a coin held in a hand
Nearly everything a household owns is a record in someone's database. Metal is the exception. This original Capstone Metals illustration illustrates split illustration of a screen showing an account balance beside a coin held in a hand. It is educational artwork, not a price forecast, performance record or recommendation.