Hugo allows investors to invest in gold 1 cent at a time

STARTUPS Hugo allows investors to invest in gold 1 cent at a time

David Fergusson

Hugo is a digital wealth and savings app that helps users track their spending, save, and invest. Its point of difference is a feature it calls “Roundups,” wherein customers can automatically turn their loose change into long-term savings and “Money Pots” that helps users track and save money.

Through Hugo, what users can do with their money is to purchase gold from as little as one cent, whereas traditionally physical gold requires a much higher initial investment to buy a gold bar or coin.

Talking with Singapore Business Review, one of Hugo’s founders, Ben Davies, said they want to bring gold back to the future. Davies said they wanted to dissolve the myths surrounding gold like needing to be rich to invest in gold, and gold not being liquid and hard to sell and store.

“With Hugo Gold Vault, users can buy or sell gold for as low as $0.01 anytime at the best market prices and the mere touch of a button. We then automatically hold it in highly secure LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) accredited vaults for users. The gold bought is legally owned by the buyer and guaranteed against loss by Lloyds of London,” Davies explained.

Watch where the gold goes

There are three good reasons to own gold, according to Davies: “One, it is an insurance; two, it is undervalued and under-owned; and three, it is in demand from strong hands.”

A big development area of note is that we will be expanding our available investment options beyond gold as a logical next step. One asset class that will not be on the menu is diamonds.

“Diamonds are the best marketing con ever manufactured! Diamonds are neither fungible nor scarce, like gold. Synthetic diamonds from your loved one’s deceased carbon footprint—literally their carbon—will create an abundance of diamonds and dilute their high value to weight ratio,” Davies explained.

Gold, unlike diamonds, has a deep trading market as well as it being a proven portfolio diversifier for risk assets like bonds and stocks that underperform in highly deflationary and inflationary environments.

“Watch where the money goes, smart investors say, but perhaps it is more apropos to say ‘watch where the gold goes?’. The very same institutions printing money have been accumulating vast amounts of gold. Follow where the strong hands go and buy gold,” Davies said.

Meanwhile, Hugo’s research with their Southeast Asian clients showed there is still a powerful affinity for gold. However, millennials are losing the last generation’s innate understanding of why they should own gold. In Singapore, there are plenty who are still unsure of the safest and best way to invest in gold which Hugo aims to address. “We want to democratise wealth generation and put the control back into the hands of our consumers.”

“Moreover, we witness the rise of a middle class who are digitally savvy, aspirational and willing to engage. These ingredients provide a historical opportunity for technologically and commercially agile companies, like us, who are utterly customer-centric, to build a community of millions of consumers,” Davies added.

Davies said gold is rising in all currencies as they fall in value, but still not at a rate that signifies its true value because they need to fund government debts ironically still causes demand for those currencies. In a world where all central banks support government excess spending, gold is insurance against the insidious debasement of their currencies.

Hugo was started by Davies with David Fergusson and Braham Djiddjelli who worked together in a gold-based fintech firm in the UK. “Hu” stands for the Mandarin word for “mutual” combined with the English word Go which signifies progress.

“We don’t look at other competitors per se; instead, we look to ourselves and our potential consumers. If we map our so-called competitors, we will all end up on the road to mediocrity, and the consumer will lack choice,” Davies concluded, as he shared that Hugo will strive to introduce new products, services, features, and partnerships.

Ben Davies

Follow where the strong hands go and buy gold Braham Djidjelli