Rich Checkan

Rich Checkan is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Asset Strategies International (ASI), a firm he has helped build into a full-service tangible asset provider over a career spanning more than three decades. For resource investors, his relevance centers on physical precious metals markets — he advises clients on gold and silver acquisition, storage, and portfolio allocation, and his market commentary provides a window into how professional metals dealers interpret price action and macroeconomic trends.

At ASI, Checkan oversees operations spanning physical bullion, foreign currencies, rare coins, and wealth protection strategies. A notable achievement is his role in developing the Precious Metals Certificate Program for the Perth Mint — a government-guaranteed program (backed by the Western Australian government) that allows investors to hold physical gold and silver without taking personal delivery. ASI was among the first of only eight Approved Dealers worldwide authorized to sell these certificates, giving Checkan early and deep expertise in structured precious metals products.

Checkan's approach to precious metals centers on wealth preservation rather than speculation. He focuses on physical metals as portfolio insurance, advocating allocations that protect purchasing power against currency debasement and geopolitical risk. His commentary typically frames gold and silver within broader macroeconomic conditions — interest rates, dollar strength, and fiscal deficits — rather than through the lens of individual mining equities. He has publicly called for silver to outpace gold, citing its dual role as both a monetary metal and an industrial commodity essential to solar panel and electronics manufacturing.

Investors who follow Checkan gain perspective from the physical metals side of the resource market, which complements equity-focused analysis. His firm's direct involvement in bullion sourcing, certification, and storage provides a ground-level view of supply and demand dynamics that stock-only analysts may miss. Mining stock investors can use his metals price outlook to inform their views on sector timing, even though his focus is on the metals themselves rather than individual mining companies.