NEW YORK (Realist English). Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, has advised investors to allocate as much as 15% of their portfolios to gold, calling the precious metal “an excellent diversifier” even as prices soar past $4,000 an ounce to record highs.
Speaking Tuesday at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Connecticut, Dalio said gold remains a crucial hedge in times of monetary instability and geopolitical tension. “If you look at it just from a strategic asset allocation perspective, you would probably have something like 15% of your portfolio in gold,” he said. “It’s one asset that does very well when the typical parts of the portfolio go down.”
Gold futures were last trading around $4,005.80 per ounce, up more than 50% year to date, as investors sought safety amid ballooning fiscal deficits and escalating global conflicts.
Dalio compared the current environment to the early 1970s, a period marked by surging inflation, high government spending, and waning faith in paper currencies. “It’s very much like the early ’70s — where do you put your money in?” he said. “When there’s such a supply of debt and debt instruments, they’re no longer an effective storehold of wealth.”
His comments diverge sharply from traditional financial advice, which typically recommends a 60-40 stock-to-bond portfolio with only a small portion allocated to commodities. Dalio, however, argues that gold stands apart because “it’s the only asset you can hold without depending on someone else to pay you.”
Other prominent investors share Dalio’s bullish stance. Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital, has suggested allocating as much as 25% of a portfolio to gold, citing persistent inflationary pressures and a weakening U.S. dollar.
Dalio concluded that gold’s unique independence and resilience make it “a critical hedge against both monetary debasement and political risk.”
