Top Investments Better Than Gold: Diversify Your Portfolio Wisely

Gold is a precious metal widely used as an option for an inflation hedge. This is because gold can brave through the purchasing power risk. View the most popular gold mints around the world before you make a purchase.

Many investors use tons of gold and other precious metals as an investment choice for their retirement because of the value these precious metals have retained throughout the years. However, many fail to note the logistic complexities and opportunity cost of owning gold.

Why look for an alternative to gold?

Gold is considered one of the popular investments choice that many people consider. It is a precious metal you can invest in in the form of gold coins, gold bullion, or gold bars. Many people also invest in it in the form of gold jewelry. This is because gold bullion and gold coin are portable and highly liquid, making their purchase and selling easier. Moreover, it also contributes to the diversification of the portfolio.

While gold is great for investment purposes, has industrial demand, and is considered a hedge against inflation, it also has drawbacks. Gold is quite volatile. Even though the value of gold remains stable long-term, the day-to-day price of gold experiences fluctuation.

Moreover, gold's earning potential and investment value is reduced when the current gold price goes down due to market changes. Another reason why you should look for an alternative to gold is that physical gold holdings such as gold bullion or gold coins can result in higher capital gains tax. Hence, many gold investors have started investing in gold exchange-traded funds to avoid this tax by not directly investing in gold. Moreover, as a bar of gold is a precious physical metal, you need to pay extra costs for its storage and safe deposit box to ensure security measures.

Hence, you could go for other nontraditional investments too!

Treasuries

Treasuries are an investment that will provide you with a reliable income. With treasury bonds, specific returns on investments are locked. The government also offers Treasury inflation-protected securities. This is a way where the government of the US guarantees the rate of return. And the inflation risk is also minimized. TIPS adjust its price levels to match the level of inflation.

However, TIPS tends to pay less interest than other securities. TIPS are mainly to fight against inflation, and it is not very useful when inflation is low.

Stocks

Stocks are one way to accumulate wealth. However, to efficiently invest in stocks, you need information about the company stocks or individual stocks you are investing in. If the financial situation of a company is not very great, then it wouldn't be ideal to invest in their stocks.

Related read: Gold Mining Stocks vs. Physical Gold – Which is Best?

Real Estate

Investment in real estate can be extremely profitable and is also a dependable investment opportunity. You can get proper and reliable income flow-through investment in real estate, and your investment portfolio will become more diverse and have tax advantages. Moreover, real estate is not a very risky choice; you do not have to worry about losing your investment funds.

With real estate, the investment size is greater compared to gold. Investing in real estate is the best option for long-term investment. Real estate can produce steady income every month in liquid cash form. Hence, through real estate, you get a steady monthly income. However, real estate is not as liquid as gold. The value of real estate is not very volatile. Additionally, real estate also has tax benefits such as deduction on operating expenses, legal fees, and additional costs such as mortgage interest, property taxes, etc.

Real estate is a wiser option for several reasons, as it has low volatility. If you maintain and repair the property, value is added. Moreover, you can lease out the property and mortgage it against a loan.

Additionally, the longer you have ownership of the real estate, the more value will be delivered.

Mutual Funds

Mutual funds provide you with many options. You can make your portfolio more diverse and benefit from compounding through mutual funds.

Mutual funds can provide a high rate of return depending on the different plans. As mutual funds invest in stock markets, they can be riskier to invest in than gold, yet, they are safe than direct stock market investments. Mutual funds are open-ended assets and can be easily sold on the stock exchange.

Having more than one mutual fund can result in efficient investment diversification. Mutual funds and gold ETFs can also provide exposure to gold's long-term preservation.

Over the long-term mutual funds is better than gold funds. As with mutual funds, higher returns are guaranteed.

Best Option: Diversifying Portfolio

There are many different classes of assets in which you can invest to improve your nest egg. However, a safe investment would be to have a mix of assets.

A diversified portfolio is an investment strategy through which you can maximize your returns on investment and minimize your losses due to an economic crisis. With a diversified portfolio, even if the value of one of the assets goes down, the other class of assets will balance the losses.

Buying Gold, But Diversify First

Gold is one desirable metal. However, many options are available, such as mutual funds, treasuries, real estate, precious metals, etc. Yet, diversifying is one of the best solutions for creating wealth in your portfolio!

If you are unsure of how to diversify the portfolio effectively, you can consult a financial advisor to guide you.

Gold Resources

• The Most Purest Gold Coin in the World
• Does the Government Know When You Buy Gold?
• Which Country Has the Most Gold?
• Will Gold Go Up This Year?

Disclaimer: Content on this website is not intended to be used as financial advice. It is not to be used as a recommendation to buy, sell, or trade an asset that requires a licensed broker. Consult a financial advisor.