Are you one of those people who are at least trying to save for retirement?
Maybe you’re in your 40’s with 25+ years to go before retirement and you’re just starting out. Maybe you’re in your 50’s and you’ve been through a couple of market crashes and maybe you’re still trying to recoup some of 2008’s losses. It could be that you’re almost to retirement in your 60’s and not only have you seen several market crashes, but you’ve experienced inflation, stagflation, and several recessions as well.
But there is one thing that all people who work on “saving for retirement” have in common. Legacy. Savers, nearly in all instances, want to leave a legacy behind for their children and their family. Some wish to be benefactors and leave behind a namesake legacy for other heirs such as non-profit organizations, colleges, churches, etc. That has always been Americas “Gold Standard.” Leaving something behind.
As savers and investors, we are always looking for the next best thing to invest our money in so that our capital and savings continue to grow. When we look back over the last 20 years we can see what assets have been performing at the top of their class and which have been lagging.
surprisingly being in the longest bull market now in recorded history, you would think the Dow Jones and the stock market were the best performer for the 20-year period ending December 31, 2018. Well, guess what? I have news, It’s not.
Here are the top 5 best-performing assets over the last 20 years, as Per Forbes, Bloomberg News & JP Morgan.
Starting from number 5, Bonds. Bonds also includes Treasuries, government agency bonds, corporate bonds, city bonds, etc. They had the fifth best-annualized returns of 4.5% during the last 20 years.
The next best-performing asset coming in at number 4 has been making new highs as of late and returned an annualized rate of 5.6%. I’m speaking of none other than the S&P 500. During the last 20 years, the S&P took two pretty big beatings during that period, the 1999 Internet Tech Bubble crash and the 2008 Mortgage Meltdown. And yet today it is reaching new highs.
The next best-performing asset after the S&P 500 is WTi Oil (Crude oil). WTi is mainly extracted from oil fields here in the United States and is primarily extracted in Texas, Louisiana, and North Dakota. During the last 20 year period, WTi Oil had an annualized return of 7%.
We are going to skip number two for just a moment. We’ll come back to that. This asset is a little different from the rest and I’ll discuss momentarily.
The number one asset of the last 20 years was REIT’s. (Real Estate Investment Trusts). These are funds that invest mostly in commercial real estate and pay out quarterly dividends to their shareholders. For the 20 year period, REIT’s had an annualized return of 9.9%. That’s the number one best performing asset class.
So what is the one thing all these top performing assets have in common? If you guessed “paper”, you are correct. Nothing physical to take hold of. So that brings me to the number 2 best performing asset in the last 20 years.
Have you guessed what it is? Have you been trying to figure out number 2? It’s the only physical asset on the list. This asset returned an annualized rate of 7.7% and it is the only asset that doesn’t crash as paper assets do and that is none other than gold.
Gold was the second best performing asset for the last 20 years and it’s not hard to understand why. Gold is the only physical asset that protects and preserves a persons wealth during market volatility. It grows in currency value when the stock market declines, and secondly, it acts as a hedge against inflation as consumer prices increase and the dollar loses more of its value.
But gold also offers many tax benefits to precious metal investors especially if they have self-directed IRA’s. That isn’t the only tax benefit but it is a big one for most small investors and mom and pop savers.
So now you may be thinking that it might be a good time to diversify some of your savings into metals or maybe even roll your 401(k) into a self-directed IRA. That would be very smart thinking on your part.
The smart money always hedges their investments with gold. “People-in-the-know”, meaning institutional investors, the wealthy, hedge funds, etc., always protect themselves, their funds, and their investments with gold.
By adding some precious metals to your portfolio, you protect your savings against the recent volatility in the stock market, plus if the United States suffers another crash like that of 2008, (which I expect we will) not only will you have protected your savings, but you’ll most likely see your precious metals grow in value as well.
Monetary Gold has been a precious metals broker for nearly 20 years and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. We specialize in helping people protect their financial assets by diversifying their portfolio with precious metals, and by helping people with 401(k)’s rollover their savings into self-directed precious metal IRA’s.
If you’ve decided that it’s time to make this move, contact us via the following:
email: support@monetarygold.com
Phone: (888) 411-GOLD (4653)
We look forward to working with you.
