Gold-digging: why some Swiss bury their wealth in the garden

It’s not just plants that can be found in Swiss gardens – there’s a fair bit of gold too. About ten tonnes of the precious metal is estimated to be buried across the country. Gold is a well-known safe-haven asset. Keeping it, in the form of coins or ingots, represents a kind of insurance against the vicissitudes of life. So it’s hardly surprising that this practice is widespread in Switzerland, a country renowned for its insurance, banking and gold trading. A recent study by the University of St Gallen confirms the Swiss taste for the shiny metal. The representative survey found that two-thirds (65.2%) of the 3,000 respondents believed that investing in precious metals was “judicious”. Gold is even one of the Swiss public’s favourite forms of investment, albeit a long way behind property, but ahead of traditional financial products such as shares and bonds. Sergio Rossi, professor of economics at the University of Fribourg, isn’t surprised by the gold craze. “Political and ...