Nigel Farage Faces Criticism Over Role Promoting Physical Gold as Pension Investment
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, earns £400,000 annually for a role that requires just four hours a month promoting Direct Bullion, a company dealing in physical gold. His duties include featuring in Facebook and YouTube videos that endorse investing in gold through self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs).
Farage has claimed that those following his advice have seen returns exceeding 100% since his involvement with Direct Bullion began. However, some critics have raised concerns about the promotional videos, noting they often lack disclaimers regarding the volatility of gold prices, tax implications, storage expenses, and the fact that gold does not yield regular income.
Pensions expert Tom McPhail described the strategy of transferring pension funds into physical gold as a niche investment, more appropriate for sophisticated investors rather than the general public. He advises most people to invest in workplace pension default funds offering diversified portfolios rather than convert their pensions into physical gold.
Tom Brake of Unlock Democracy has reported the Direct Bullion videos to the Advertising Standards Authority, highlighting the absence of necessary disclaimers and issues with font size in the content. In response, Reform UK dismissed the inquiry as unhelpful, with a party spokesperson making a lighthearted comment about the Guardian’s focus on font sizes. Direct Bullion did not respond to requests for comment.
Aside from his Direct Bullion role, Farage also earns approximately £450,000 from his position as a GB News presenter, over £50,000 annually as a Sky News Australia commentator, and £48,000 per year writing a column for the Daily Telegraph.
Pensions advisor Kate Marshall from Hargreaves Lansdown acknowledged that gold can be part of a diversified pension portfolio but recommended low-cost exposure via gold exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) such as the iShares Physical Gold ETC.
