DAWN OF A GOLDEN ERA

OR: one more chapter in the Gold saga 

For years, every fund manager and so called money expert has been saying, don't buy gold. It is an unproductive asset, it is not used for any useful purpose like producing goods, it is just a lump of useless metal, you should invest in something that grows, and a host of other similar specious reasonings, all pointing to why gold is not good as an investment. In this context, whenever we say  gold, we mean silver also, so I presume they broadly meant silver too, though silver has many more industrial uses than gold does. 

They were negating centuries of human experience. Gold has always been considered a good asset for wealth preservation, across cultures, in every era of recorded human history. 

That is the problem with "experts" of all kinds. This includes, along with money managers, doctors, nutritionists and  gym trainers also - a lot of what they recommend  goes against common sense and centuries of accumulated human wisdom. 

Whenever you see the phrase "experts opine", beware. Their arguments are beguilingly convincing, all the more because they end up convincing each other in their own echo chambers, that since they all think so, it has to be true! 

Now the experts are being forced to eat their own words. Jamie Dimon, CEO of J.P.Morgan, is now saying that gold could even double from current levels. Dhirendra Kumar, a well known figure in Mumbai financial circles,  who heads Value Research, says, yaaa, you know, things have changed, now it's different, gold is good, etc etc but he is still reluctant to say "load up on it", it is never easy when you have to backtrack. 

All this is in the backdrop of the recent spurt in gold prices. If you have not been living under a rock, you know what I am talking about. 

I have always been a fan of gold. In my personal finance classes which I have been conducting over the last thirty years, I have always recommended a healthy allocation to gold, upto 15 percent of the portfolio.   I never spoke about silver since it seemed to rise broadly in line with gold, while being more volatile. Plus, silver ETFs were not available then in the Indian market, while gold ETFs were. 

Things have changed now. 

I am increasing my recommendation to "at least one third of portfolio in gold and silver". Within that allocation, I would say gold two thirds, and silver one third. Personally, I am going even higher. 

Silver has also exploded in price over the last one year. 

For a host of reasons, I feel this is just the beginning. Both gold and silver will do very well in the foreseeable future. 

I could be wrong. 

But that is the essence of all investment strategies, isn't it. You have to take a call and you have to act on your convictions. 

If you are wrong, you end up losing money or not doing as well you could have. It is always a risk. 

But what is life without risk? Even crossing the road involves risk. 

Why did the chicken not cross the road? Is what we should be asking, instead of the usual query of why he did. 

Because he was afraid to go to the other side! 

Because he was frozen with inaction! 

Because he never wanted to take risks! 

Hence, the chicken was doomed to spend his life on this side of the road.

Till one day, a speeding car anyway killed him! 

Where are we heading, with the ascent of AI?

They say AI will double its capability every six months. 

That is ten doublings in five years, which is a thousand times more capability than what exists today in just five years from now. 

Human beings, on the other hand, evolve at "evolutionary" speed. We took several million years to evolve from ape to homo sapiens. 

The human brain has evolved to cope with stress. It has also evolved to survive in the face of too much stress, it just shuts down, and the human being that the brain belongs to, simply "drops out". 

We are seeing that phenomenon already happening among the young. Tang Ping ( lying flat) and Bai Lan ( letting it rot) are recognised epidemics among Chinese youth, for example. 

It is very scary even to think about where the world is heading... 

the vaccine files: where irony died a thousand deaths

https://x.com/NicHulscher/status/1965492776998682759?t=5AHvIVJJEsa3mqLw0hKVbw&s=08

(this tweet is reproduced at the end of this article)

But there is no point in calling this out. Modern Pharma is a cult and its adherents will maintain with cult like fervour that vaccination is good, vaccination is necessary, vaccination is healthy. 

A mountain of evidence to the contrary will not make them reconsider. They will dismiss it all as conspiracy theories. Even while maintaining that you need to take vaccines for every flu, and for every variant of every flu, annually, seasonally, and based on age. 

Meanwhile, they will not give benefit of doubt to the other side. Let's say I concede that they have a right to their views, why not let me have a right to my views and not vaccinate? They will answer, sure, who forced you? 

My employer did. He threatened to throw me out of my job unless I was vaccinated. 

My government did. It didn't allow me to travel unless I was vaccinated. 

I resisted all that, but finally caved in when I got a notice from the school, saying my children would be rusticated from the school unless all vaccines are up to date. Since they were a threat to other children. How, when I thought I was taking the risk and they were the ones who were vaccinated? 

In this whole vaccine saga, irony died a thousand deaths. 

All in the name of freedom, democracy and the people!

----

"

BREAKING: Henry Ford Vaxxed vs. Unvaxxed Study Found Vaccinated Kids Had 453% More Neurodevelopmental Disorders — 57% Were Chronically Ill After 10 Years Henry Ford birth cohort (n=18,468) tracked children from birth for 10 years. Vaccinated kids had: 496% more autoimmune disease 453% more neurodevelopmental disorders 329% more asthma 203% more atopic disease After 10 years: 57% of vaccinated vs 17% of unvaccinated had chronic illness. Unvaccinated children had ZERO cases of brain dysfunction, ADHD, learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or tics. The most important vaccine safety study ever suppressed: "Impact of Childhood Vaccination on Short- and Long-Term Chronic Health Outcomes in Children: A Birth Cohort Study"

Shouting into the void

It is too tiring,

Shouting into the void;

The echoes call back,

As if they mock;

 

Why make yourself hoarse,

Talking to the wind;

There's no one to hear,

Pleas on deaf ears!

 

We have senses five,

Gateways to the world;

The mind needs to open,

What's firmly shut!

 

Everyone resides,

In an echo chamber;

Shouting into the void,

With no one to hear!

 

Dinesh Gopalan,

10 September, 2025

Gold!

Gold has appreciated by fifty percent in the last one year, from Rupees 74000 to 110,000. 

Gold is by far the safest and most liquid asset in the world. It is not amenable to control of any one authority. It remains the ultimate fallback in case of economic collapse or war. It is easy to buy, easier to store,  and easy to keep hidden from the greedy eyes of Big Brother. 

All fiat currency is maya, illusion. All economies are run by a seat of the pants approach, with covering fire provided by so called economists who are clueless. 

It is good to ride the bubbles created by fiat currency and the chaos of the financial markets. Stocks are a good investment, but they are like riding a roller coaster, you should know when to get on and get off. 

Bonds are great to provide a steady income stream, and to prevent erosion of wealth that is measured based on that illusory piece of paper called money. 

But the only things that offer protection from inflation and preservation of wealth in the long run are gold and real estate. Of the two, gold requires zero knowledge or technical expertise, carries zero risk  and involves zero active management. 

The price of gold today, or the percentage increase in the last one year are irrelevant. We make the mistake of comparing gold with that constantly fluctuating chimera called money and think that the price of gold is going up or down. Actually, gold always remains steady, like a rock anchored in crashing seas, while the waves around it roil in turbulence.  

All portfolios should have a significant allocation to gold. Especially when times are turbulent, like now, and like every other time in history!