When it comes right down to it, successful investing over the long-term is firstly about being true to oneself, and secondly, grasping the facts and figures. Sam Stovall, CFRA Chief Investment Strategist, informed market participants this morning in his weekly report that “gold” has returned an average of 2.7% in the month of August the past 25 years. Of course, history is simply a guide and just that. No one knows for certain how any risk asset will perform from one moment to the next.
My job as a money manager is to allocate assets across the spectrum of choices according to clients’ timeline and objectives. Covid-2020 has been a year of despair and hope, more the former. Federal governments and global central banks have spent and pledged trillions more, to support society. The U.S. has authorized $10 trillion in relief money with more to come. The flood of easy money has been a tailwind for gold of late.
Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund said, “Gold, I believe can be both risk-reducing and return-enhancing.”
Prudent investors who are not speculators and risk-averse should have their money spread across assets that can grow, as well as assets that are safe. To achieve this objective it is wise to own various investments that are less correlated. Gold’s correlation to stocks over the past decade has been about 20%.
