“Have you ever heard of bullionvault.com?” my mother asked in an e-mail last week from London.

Bullion Vault is a British company that buys and sells gold over the Internet. It’s a popular service with people who want to own gold bullion but don’t want the hassle of gold ownership.

Later, my mother told me she’d been digging through the small print on Bullion Vault’s website. She was thinking about opening an account.

It seems the European banking system is about to collapse. An article in the Daily Telegraph claims European banks may have to write down $25 trillion in losses. Compare this to the problems in America… Even “Dr. Doom” – NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini – says the most American banks will have to write off is $1.8 trillion.

In other words, the problems faced by American banks are nothing but a skinned knee compared to what European banks face.

This is because the European banks lost money in two major financial implosions. They made trillions in loans to Eastern Europe and other emerging markets and they also participated in U.S. mortgage lending, possibly even more aggressively than American banks.

According to the Telegraph, “Europeans account for an astonishing 74% of the entire $4.9 trillion portfolio of loans to emerging markets. They are five times more exposed to this latest bust than American or Japanese banks, and they are 50% more leveraged (IMF data).”

The final clincher is, no European “Federal Reserve” bank exists to print trillions of euros and bail everyone out like we have in America. Now, the European banking system is about to fall apart.

This is why my mother wants to buy gold. She’s not worried about inflation or currency debasement. She’s worried about the money in her bank account. I think this is why gold and silver are rising so fast right now. And why the dollar and European government bonds are soaring at the same time. It’s not a fear of price inflation that’s driving gold. It’s the Europeans. They are turning to safe havens because their banking system is on the brink of failure.

Here’s the thing: Gold doesn’t pay interest. Gold costs money to own. So I’d rather own a solid asset that cranks out 10% dividends than gold. The two pipeline investments in my 12% Letter portfolio are just as safe as gold in a financial panic. If the banking system collapses, your capital is safely buried underground.

They’ll protect your capital from inflation and depressions too. In inflation, having your money in steel tubes protects you from currency devaluation. In deflation, people still need gas to keep warm. Pipelines cranking out cash become valuable assets.

Plus they’re liquid. You can buy and sell any time you like. And they pay 10% dividend yields. In fact, both companies raised their dividends in the most recent quarter.

If I lived in Europe right now, I’d hold gold… But I’d park most of my money in ironclad companies with large yields. They’re productive. They are safe. They pay double-digit income yields.

If you’re serious about building a fortune, make sure you are getting paid by your investments. This advice still applies in recessions and banking panics… and it’s the advice I gave my mother last week.

Good investing,

Tom

Last 5 posts by Daily Wealth

• What the "Man Who Made Too Much" Says About Gold - $GLD - October 29th, 2009
• The Next Currency to Crash - $YCS - October 23rd, 2009
• Gold Guru: "$1,000 Is the New Floor for Gold" - #CNBC - October 21st, 2009
• An Answer to the Biggest Question Investors Face Right Now - $CRB - October 8th, 2009
• This Indicator Will Warn You Before Stocks Fall - September 21st, 2009