[kimchi]

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Adding non-correlated assets to a portfolio can decrease the risk/return ratio. There is a greater than a 0% chance that we will wake up one day with Dow index value BELOW the $ value of gold . You don't have to predict prices of stocks or gold, just prepare.

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The Dow/gold ratio returned to around 1 to 1 after the bull market peaks of 1929 and the late 60s. Why shouldn't it occur again after the 2000 ratio peak?

After (was it Nixon) the gold standard was dropped in the early 70s, gold rose from around $40 to over $800 by 1980.

That was a 2000% increase.

Spot gold has risen from around $250 in 2000 to around $700 now. That's less than a 300% increase.

I think gold has more upside.

As for physically buying gold, there's a possiblity gold will be illegal to possess in The USA in the future (except for industrial purposes), and can be repossed by the government.

You can hold certificates of deposit in gold from a more politically stable country such as Australia, where a lot of gold is mined. The Perth Mint of Western Australia is not a bank (and I know how much The US government likes to know about its citizens' personal finances) and so you don't need to declare your holdings.

Buying gold mining companies offers some leverage on the price of the commodity they mine. This leverage is limited by the rising inflationary costs of mining it, which is usually the economic backdrop during periods in which the price of gold increases.