Some buy gold as a luxury good, in the form of
jewellery, and some use it for investment, or both. It is a highly
liquid asset that is also very scarce and unlike many other
commodities it is not used. It is no one's liability. Being an
element there is as much gold today as there was thousands, or even
millions of years ago. The World Gold Council outlines four
fundamental roles that holding gold plays in a portfolio which are
discussed in depth here under:
As a source of long-term returns
Gold is valuable. It has been used in history as a form of money
and today is used as a store of wealth. The price of gold has
increased by an average of 10% year on year since 1971 when it
began to be freely traded. Gold's long-term results are
comparable to stocks and actually higher than bonds or commodities.
Gold's value increases and price surges in times of market
stress as opposed to other key asset classes, as witnessed during
the 2008 financial crisis. We saw a 150%
