Thoughtful Money · Sep 29, 2026 · 1h 15m · 52m saved
With Lawrence Lepard, Managing Partner of Equity Management Associates (EMA) and author of The Big Print
Ben Bernanke printed three trillion dollars and Jerome Powell five or six, by Lawrence Lepard's count, and he says the next round will have to be bigger still.
Wall Street has largely stopped covering gold miners. Lepard, who runs a gold-stock fund, says they still trade at about seven times cash flow and have beaten the S&P 500 for two years.
"I mean the last time we had a sovereign debt crisis was World War I."
Lawrence Lepard, Managing Partner at Equity Management Associates, on Thoughtful Money, founded the firm in 2006, has focused it on gold and silver mining stocks since 2008, sits on the board of Lavras Gold and wrote The Big Print, a book arguing that the US debt load will force another round of money creation.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 75 minutes of audio, 23 minutes of reading.
Here are the 16 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
Gold miners are still cheap, Lepard said, at seven times cash flow against four times earlier
The flood of money into miners starts when the S&P 500 falls while the GDX index keeps rising, in his opinion
Private credit funds gating redemptions gave him the feeling of the summer of 2007
The trade fails only if Washington gets fiscally responsible, and he sees no sign of it
The long bond he will buy is an ounce of gold, not a US Treasury
In a downturn the deficit could reach $4 trillion, as much as the government collects in taxes
He thinks silver tops 125 and gold 5,000 within 18 months, with Bitcoin probably at $200K–$300K in two years
About half of his own invested net worth is in Bitcoin, the other half in gold, silver and miners
Everyone should hold 10% to 30% in debasement hedges, in his view, or regret it within five or 10 years
In the 1970s gold and oil stocks rose almost 30% a year for a decade while the S&P 500 went nowhere
The next Fed printing round will be "7, 8, 10, 12", he said, bigger than the last two
1. Inside the Gold Conferences
Lepard spoke from a hotel room between two annual precious metals events: the Beaver Creek precious metals conference and a Denver gold conference held in Colorado Springs, which he said brings together probably the top 100 gold mining companies.
The mining companies pay, and the investors are vetted
He said the events draw 300 to 400 companies and perhaps 2,000 investors. Investors must qualify as serious buyers of mining stocks, and each gets 30 to 40 minutes with the management teams of the companies they own or are studying.
"And of course since I have a couple hundred million dollars under management focused on this area I obviously make the list." — Lawrence Lepard
He described two distinct groups in the room: mining engineers and geologists "used to breaking rocks," and financial types trying to work out what the numbers mean. Reading presentations online, he said, is no substitute for asking management hard questions face to face.
The host's lunch with a mining legend
The host, who started his career in Silicon Valley, said venture firms there back the team more than the idea, and that the same holds in precious metals. At a recent Rick Rule conference he sat down at lunch next to a stranger who turned out to be one of the best-known figures in mining. Lepard said the industry is small, everybody knows everybody, and the networking helps him "triangulate" on which companies are good.
One real aha moment
Asked whether the first conference changed his mind on anything, Lepard said it produced a couple of sells, one real aha moment with a company he had not known well, and much stronger conviction in several companies he already owned.
