Farage criticised for Direct Bullion role promoting physical gold as pension investment
Nigel Farage earns £400,000 a year from a four-hour-a-month role with Direct Bullion, promoting physical gold investments within pensions. He appears in Direct Bullion Facebook and YouTube videos encouraging individuals to put physical gold into self-invested personal pensions. Some of these videos omit warnings about price volatility, potential losses, absence of regular income, or storage costs.
Pensions expert Tom McPhail stated that converting pension funds to physical gold is a niche approach suitable for sophisticated investors, while mainstream guidance typically favours diversified default workplace pension funds. Farage claims returns of over 100% since he started with Direct Bullion.
Unlock Democracy's chief executive Tom Brake has requested the Advertising Standards Authority to assess whether the Direct Bullion videos comply with advertising standards and fall under regulatory scope, citing a lack of disclaimers. Reform UK responded by saying the Guardian coverage is unwarranted and noted that Farage's relationship with Direct Bullion predates his time as a Member of Parliament.
In addition to his work with Direct Bullion, Farage is a GB News presenter, earning about £450,000 since entering Parliament, a Telegraph columnist receiving £48,000 per year, and a Sky News Australia commentator making over £50,000 annually while serving as MP for Clacton.
