GenX 7% in Gold?

[Dieter]

According to a MarketWatch article bad on a Legg Mason survey, GenX are conservative investors with 7% in Gold:

"....25% in cash, 21% in equities, 17% in fixed income, 11% in non-traditional assets, 16% in investment real estate, 7% in gold and other precious metals and 4% in other investments."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/where- ... 2017-07-05

Sounds like a small sample size, I'd like median as well as averse, and .... But lots more in Gold that I would have expected.

[europeanwizard]

I wouldn't have expected that. On one Dutch forum I frequent, I see most people having a 100% stocks portfolio, saying "there are riskier strategies".

[eufo]

I'm a GenX-er. I have a little more than 21% in Gold. It's technically a broad age range: 36 to 56 roughly, at the moment. I wouldn't imagine many at the lower end to hold any gold, while the older ones probably hold a decent amount.

[ochotona]

GenX goes to age 56? That's my age. I used to think of myself as a Late Boomer

[eufo]

GenX goes to age 56? That's my age. I used to think of myself as a Late Boomer

Wikipedia says 1961 to 1981. Seems a lot broader than I would have guessed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X

Edit: There seems to be a lot of looseness with the years depending on the source, so never mind the 1961 to 1981.

[dualstow]

Well they got me pegged. I'm ~the same age as Nick Offerman, the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (in effect), Unix Time, Black Sabbath's debut LP and Medium Tex.I'm 8-9% in gold (pp+vp).

I wonder how much Nick Offerman has in gold.

[Kbg]

Let's call ourselves BoomExs or GenBooms. :-)

[Sir_Bondalot]

Gen Y here...and 20% in Gold.

It doesn't make sense to me to be so exposed to equities. Why reach for 1%-2% more CAGR when I can reduce my volatility by huge amount?

Maybe I'm just weird.

Or paranoid.





Or both

[stuper1]

I'd say you are probably more self-aware than most. You know that you probably won't be able to handle the volatility when it hits, so you have traded some theoretical CAGR for less volatility. I say "theoretical" because a lot of people will sell equities when the volatility hits, and they will never realize that extra CAGR and in fact will end up worse off than you.

In addition, if some of your gold is physical, you are much better protected against black swans than most people. So, in addition to being more self-aware, you also are wiser, at least in my view. Apparently, some people think that black swans are as rare as unicorns, but my take on history is that they are not quite that rare.

[dualstow]

Gen Y here...and 20% in Gold.
...
Maybe I'm just weird.
Or paranoid.
...

You should be Sir_Gildalot!

[Sir_Bondalot]

I'd say you are probably more self-aware than most. You know that you probably won't be able to handle the volatility when it hits, so you have traded some theoretical CAGR for less volatility. I say "theoretical" because a lot of people will sell equities when the volatility hits, and they will never realize that extra CAGR and in fact will end up worse off than you.

In addition, if some of your gold is physical, you are much better protected against black swans than most people. So, in addition to being more self-aware, you also are wiser, at least in my view. Apparently, some people think that black swans are as rare as unicorns, but my take on history is that they are not quite that rare.

I think you are right. Reading Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan changed my life/thinking several years ago.

[Sir_Bondalot]

Gen Y here...and 20% in Gold.
...
Maybe I'm just weird.
Or paranoid.
...

You should be Sir_Gildalot!

Ah well, too late. C'est la vie!