Alex O'Brien
Caring

Grandpa buries $1.74 million worth of gold in his backyard

A granddad in the UK, known simply by his first name Ron, has left a sizeable fortune to his children and grandchildren in a rather unorthodox way – by burying it in his backyard.

The engineer, worried about the country’s financial situation and possible upcoming withdrawal from the European Union, invested his money gold, the price of which continues to rise despite economic fears.

Grandpa Ron, who is in his 80s, had the gold ($1.74 million worth – about 29kg) delivered in batches between November last year and this April and has created 18 “treasure maps”, one each for his daughters and grandchildren. According to the Daily Mail, the grandfather requested the gold only be delivered on sunny days so that he could bury it right away.

Interestingly, Ron isn’t the only one turning to alternative commodities in order to ensure his financial future. Worried by the upcoming “Brexit”, Josh Saul of the Pure Gold Company says in the last four weeks there has been a 32 per cent increase in enquiries for gold. “Fear and uncertainty are powerful motivators and the gold price is the clearest indicator of how worried people are,” he explains.

“So worried that bankers inside the financial system are turning to physical gold to hedge their bets, expats are buying up gold to safeguard their hard-earned currency, and retired engineers are burying it in their garden to leave a physical legacy instead of a potentially worthless electronic paper trail.”

What do you think about Ron’s unorthodox inheritance plan? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

Related links:

8 biggest inheritances left to pets

10 celebrities who cut their kids out of massive inheritances to give to charity

Antiques Roadshow mistakenly values high school project at $68,000

Tags:
will, money, grandchildren, Inheritance, gold