Gold: Earthlings’ favorite element

J.P Morgan famously said in his 1912 congressional testimony that Gold is money, everything is credit.

It seems unsurprising then that many investors seem to be fleeing from credit and are parking their wealth in gold instead, which sent the prices of the yellow metal crossing $4,000 for the first time.

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio said investors should allocate as much as 15% of their portfolios to gold in a market that he said is comparable to the early 1970s when factors like high debt, and monetary uncertainty eroded confidence in paper assets and fiat currencies.

Some may be tempted to quote Warren Buffett as a counterpoint, who was famously skeptical on the utility of gold.

In 1998, Buffett said that [Gold] gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.

Martians may be scratching their head, but earthlings are not, and are scrambling over one another for the glittery stuff.