Nigel Farage Criticised for Promoting Physical Gold as Pension Investment
Nigel Farage earns £400,000 per year from a role working four hours a month promoting Direct Bullion, a company advocating the inclusion of physical gold in self-invested personal pensions. Videos produced as part of this promotion encourage people to put physical gold in their pensions, though some clips have been criticised for lacking disclaimers about gold's price volatility, the absence of regular income, and storage costs.
Pensions expert Tom McPhail described converting pension funds to physical gold as a niche strategy suitable only for sophisticated investors, and advised most people to diversify through a workplace pension default fund. Activist Tom Brake of Unlock Democracy raised concerns with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over missing or barely visible disclaimers in the videos; an ASA review is reportedly underway.
Farage claims he has seen returns of over 100% since starting his relationship with Direct Bullion. The company did not respond to requests for comment. Reform UK responded to the controversy by stating The Guardian should focus on more important matters and noted Farage's ties to Direct Bullion predate his time as an MP.
Besides the Direct Bullion role, Farage also earns significant income from media work, including around £450,000 from GB News since becoming an MP, £48,000 yearly from a Daily Telegraph column, and over £50,000 annually for commentating on Sky News Australia.
Kate Marshall of Hargreaves Lansdown noted that gold can be part of a diversified pension portfolio and recommended gaining exposure through low-cost gold exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) such as the iShares Physical Gold ETC.
