Monday, December 28, 2020

Gold - An Asset Class

We Indians are very affectionate with Gold for generations. Although Gold is purely an international asset class, it plays a very vital role in our portfolio. 

Gold possesses certain properties & advantages:

  • Hedge against inflation risk
  • Protect currency risk
  • Hedge against uncertainty
  • Highly liquid asset
  • Available in paper as well as physical form (fall into a financial asset and hard asset)
  • Price is driven by the international market
  • Provide diversification in a portfolio & mitigate risk
  • Help to create wealth in the long term
  • No credit/default risk
  • Gold is a precious metal and carries a 'store of value'
  • Reserve currency by many central banks
  • Can be pledged for emergency need
  • Can be invested as low as Rs. 500/-
  • SIP option available
If we see the last 40 years' data of Gold from the year 1980 (@1000 / 10 grams) to the year 2020 (@51,000 / 10 grams), the rate of return given by Gold comes out to be @10.25% CAGR. Although Gold stood third in terms of the return in comparison with Real estate who scores second and Equity at the top.

There are the following ways to buy Gold:
  • Physical form
    • Jewelry shops / Bank / E-Commerce site
  • Financial form
    • Gold ETF
    • Gold Mutual Funds
    • Digital Gold or E-Gold
    • Gold Sovereign Bonds
  • Commodity Exchange (MCX / NCDEX)
    • Gold Future & Option in the Derivatives segment



One can add Gold from 5% to 15% to have a better risk-adjusted return in the portfolio.







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