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Gold Is Not An Investment
It’s a form of monetary insurance
If you want to invest your money, don’t buy gold. Park your money in a good index fund. Add to the fund a set amount each month. This is dollar cost averaging. Once a year re-evaluate.
If you prefer to manage your money more directly — you can buy individual stocks, track them, and so on. This can be more risky if you don’t know anything about the industry you are invested in but it can be more rewarding if you have expertise.
You can also buy commodities — which is what gold is considered by investors.
Buying gold as a commodity can be very risky, as those who put their money into gold over the last few years discovered. Even if they didn’t lose their money, they faced an opportunity cost. They would have made a higher rate of return if they put their money in a good index fund.
In fact, if the stock market continues to fall, continuing dollar cost averaging to buy stocks if you can afford it is a wise investment strategy. When the market rises again (and it will) then you will reap profits.
Regarding “inflation hedges” — the time to pick these up was when prices were stagnant. The best of these, in my opinion, is land.
