Gold is often described as a “safe-haven” asset. Why? Because history has shown that during periods of market stress, geopolitical uncertainty, or inflation fears, gold has often held its value or rallied while equities declined.

Recent volatility has once again pushed gold prices to elevated levels as investors sought stability. Interest has spiked. But before reacting emotionally, it is important to understand what gold actually does and what it does not do, inside a portfolio.

Gold does not generate earnings, dividends, or interest. It is not a productive asset like a business. Its role is different. Gold’s strength lies in diversification and capital preservation. Gold is more of a portfolio stabiliser than a growth engine.

What Historic Gold Price Charts Tell Us

As the chart below shows that those who bought gold in the early 1980s would see almost 25 years of gold prices either declining or flat, losing against even inflation. 

Chart 1: Historic chart of gold price

Chart 2: Gold price – 20 years – linear chart SGD / kg:

Gold has indeed zoomed up a lot in absolute terms in the last 3+ years since 2023 from near 80k SGD per kg to currently 187k SGD. 

But investors should note that there was almost a decade since end-2010 till the middle of 2019 of flat and even declining prices.

Here is another perspective, a 30 year logarithmic chart of gold price per troy ounce in USD.

Chart 3: 30 year logarithmic chart of gold price per troy ounce USD

Chart 4: Gold price August 2011

Chart 5: Gold price June 2020

We see that gold prices declined from the early 1980s till early 2000s. Almost 20 years. That is a long time for any investor.

Indeed, prices went up a lot after the early-2000s. From $260 in 2001 to a peak of $1,820 in 2011. A more than 7-fold jump in 10 years. Then, it stagnated or declined till mid-2020 when it touched the former peak again. After that, today in March 2026 we are at $4,700.

Bottom line for investors:

Gold price can, indeed, go up to over $10,000 USD per ounce from the current point we are at, if it was to replicate its performance from 2001 to 2011. But, as we have seen from history of the last 50 years, gold prices can certainly stagnate or even decline for many years, while other asset classes may be doing much better.

Chart 6: Gold vs US top 500 stocks index (last 10 years)

As shown above, for most of the last 10 years, the broad US stock market performed much better than gold.

This is why gold should form only a small portion of an investors portfolio. 

Gold is not a miracle asset. Used thoughtfully, it can strengthen portfolio resilience, especially in uncertain markets. The real value lies not in chasing price spikes, but in disciplined allocation within a well-designed long-term financial plan. Your need for gold changes depending on where you are in your financial life.

Are you looking to aligning gold with your retirement timeline and CPF strategy? 

For more handholding in this regard, feel free to contact me at https://karentang.sg/consultation/.