Historically, gold has shown to be a potent inflation hedge. Since gold prices are essentially unaffected by inflation, even if the value of all currencies falls on the global market, inflation won’t cause you to lose money.
Physical gold bars or coins are the most direct way to own gold, but they can be illiquid and need to be handled safely. Additionally common are gold-tracking ETFs, mutual funds, and, if your brokerage account has access to derivatives markets, gold futures and options.
With an increase of about 700% since 2000*, gold has been the best-performing asset of the twenty-first century and makes for a wonderful long-term investment. To strengthen their reserves, central banks are purchasing gold, and demand is stable and expected to rise over time.
Given the possibility that inflation would persist for more than a few years, gold’s price may increase from $1,930 to $2,300 in the following five years. The price of gold could reach $3,000 per ounce if the US public debt becomes a problem.