All That Glitters Are Gold ETFs

In Episode 10 of the Canadian Portfolio Manager Podcast, Justin analyzes the historical returns of gold from 1972 to 2019 to help Canadian investors decide whether the shiny yellow metal deserves a place in their portfolio. Using the data, Justin sets out to determine if any of the hype is warranted – has gold historically been a decent safe haven, portfolio diversifier, return enhancer and/or inflation hedge for Canadian investors? At the end of the show, we pit two gold ETFs (IAU and GLD) against one another in our ETF Kombat. And for all you visual learners out there, the gold discussion and ETF Kombat are also available on the CPM YouTube channel here and here.

 

• Ask Bender: Kevin from Edmonton asks whether he should include a 5% strategic allocation to gold in his portfolio [0:00:46.10]
• John Bogle discusses why gold is a speculation, not an investment [0:01:19.10]
• Was gold a safe haven for investors during the financial crisis and the global pandemic? [0:04:54.10]
• Correlations between gold and stocks/bonds between 1972 and 2019 [0:07:29.10]
• Why Kevin O’Leary likes gold [0:08:13.10]
• Has gold historically reduced the risk of a balanced portfolio? [0:09:02.10]
• Why Ray Dalio believes investors should hold 5-10% of their assets in gold [0:10:38.10]
• Has gold historically been a return enhancer (i.e. provided higher risk-adjusted returns for investors)? [0:11:55.10]
• Has gold historically been positively correlated with Canadian inflation? [0:13:24.10] 
• Asset class performance between 1972 to 1979 (when Canadian inflation averaged 8.7%) [0:14:22.10]
• Would a balanced portfolio have kept up with inflation between 1972 and 1979? [0:15:19.10]
• Gold as an inflation hedge between 1980 and 2019 [0:16:18.10]
• Insights Canadian investors can take away from this analysis [0:17:19.10]
• If you decide to add a bit of gold to your portfolio, Kevin O’Leary has some practical advice for you [0:19:13.10]
• ETF Kombat: IAU vs. GLD (gold ETFs) [0:20:52.10]