The Gold Price Doesn’t Just Fluctuate—It Whispers Warnings

 

 

 

 

 

By Simon Popple 

 Those warnings could be very relevant for your retirement.  

 

You don’t want to run out of money, so it might make sense to have some gold in your portfolio.  

 

Even though we use it in our everyday language: 

 

“They’ve been as good as Gold” 

 

“I’m looking forward to my Golden years” 

 

“I don’t want them to marry that Gold digger” 

 

….very few seem to have any. 

 

All I would say is you “can’t print it”…..and you seem to be able to print an awful lot today! 

 

Before I get into what drives the price itself, I’d first like to touch on how you can get some into your portfolio. 

 

First up, you can buy physical gold. You often don’t need to take delivery of this and can store and insure it with the dealer you buy it from. I’m happy to share where I get mine if that could be helpful. 

 

Secondly you can buy funds. Either mining companies or ETF’s, whatever works for you.  

 

Personally, as far as I’m concerned, the bigger the fund the better. I tend to use them as a lower risk investment and so if it’s already large, with lots of investments, that’s something I look for. 

 

Finally, you can buy individual companies. This is far more specialist. I’ve been in the industry for many years, so am very comfortable doing this. Again, it’s something you should discuss with your financial adviser. 

 

Surprise, surprise, larger companies tend to be lower risk, so that may be something you want to look for. 

 

Before I touch on the gold price itself, let me briefly explain why you might want it. 

 

• Liquid – it’s easy to sell if you ever want/need the money 
• Diversification – not only does it not correlate with many other asset classes, but it’s also international, there’s global demand. The same cannot be said for a lot of investments 
• Try and fight inflation – the gold price has increased by 10.9% on average in (in GBP) since 2000 – that’s significantly higher than inflation. 
• Track record – as I’ve just mentioned, it’s been around for thousands of years, we’re not talking about a “new kid on the block” here – such as Crypto. 
• Returns – that 10.9% return is pretty good 

 

 

Anyway, let’s have a look at the gold price itself. 

 

It’s a lot higher than it was fairly recently, which is making some people reluctant to get involved. 

 

I think that’s a mistake. 

 

We all know what happened to property. People thought it was expensive and the price kept going up and up. 

 

The same could happen with gold. You don’t want to find yourself sitting on the sidelines – watching the price shoot up and never doing anything. If you’re concerned about the price then why don’t you put a little in now, so you’ve at least got some “skin in the game” if the it surges. And if falls then you can invest some more if you want to. 

 

Anyway, let’s talk about the gold price. 

 

If you’ve ever wondered what actually drives gold prices—you’re not alone. 

 

The truth?

 

There’s no one lever pulling it up or down… but there are four forces that I look at. 

 

I call them MIDI

 

And once you know them—you’ll never look at the headlines the same way again. 

 

Let me walk you through them 

 

M = Market Uncertainty

 

Geopolitics. Tariffs. Wars. Recessions.
When the world gets shaky, gold gets shiny.
People want a safe haven.  

 

I = Inflation

 

Your cash buys less every year. 

 

But gold?

It’s often used as a way of trying to combat inflation
When inflation outpaces bank interest— you’ve got to do something to hold on to your purchasing power.  

 

D = Debt

 

Rising debt isn’t just a stat—it’s a signal.

History shows a clear pattern:

As US debt climbs, over the longer-term gold tends to follow (gold prices go up and down – debt only seems to go up!)
 

And guess what? That debt isn’t slowing down. 

 

 

I = Interest Rates

 

Gold doesn’t pay interest.

So when rates drop, the opportunity cost of holding gold diminishes

Suddenly—it looks a lot more attractive. 

 

Remember MIDI

 

Because when those 4 align… the gold price often moves with force. 

 

Appreciate that this is a simplistic way of looking at a complex matter, but if you keep MIDI in the back of your mind, then hopefully it will serve you well.
 

 

Author: 

 

I am a recognised expert in the Gold sector,and have worked with numerous organisations such as Moneyweek, Euronews and IG Index, helping their clients in the Gold sector. 

 

For further information visit www.goldprogramme.co.uk