The price of gold has soared again, can ordinary people still enter a position?

Author: Bourbon

“The era where you could blindly buy anything and make a profit is really over.” The topic of conversation among friends at the gathering has quietly shifted from buying houses and stock speculation in previous years to “where can we still invest some money.”

In the second quarter of 2025, new deposits from residents once again surpassed one trillion, in stark contrast to the annualized yield of a certain treasure dropping below 2%. Most bank wealth management products have seen their yields decline to below 3%. The stock market has intensified its fluctuations, with the “Mao Index” and the “Ning Combination” experiencing consecutive pullbacks, allowing many investors to experience a rollercoaster-like market.

An increasingly clear consensus is that high-quality assets with steady appreciation are becoming scarce.

At the same time, on social media, the topic of #young people starting to hoard gold bars has surpassed one billion in readership. On Xiaohongshu, posts from ordinary users sharing about “saving gold beans” have received tens of thousands of likes.

In the past two years, gold has been making a strong comeback into the spotlight. In live streaming rooms, hosts from major gold jewelry brands are rapidly promoting their products, and an increasing number of consumers are viewing the purchase of gold as a painless “savings-type consumption”—achieving both the pleasure of spending and the effect of asset preservation, while also being able to liquidate it when needed.

On the investment side, a surge in gold prices is underway. Yesterday, the international gold price surpassed $4,400 per ounce, rising sharply from just over $2,600 per ounce at the beginning of 2025. The domestic gold price also broke through the 900-1000 yuan mark from 600 yuan per gram, increasing by over 60%. Notably, the market set over 30 historical highs in 2024, and after entering 2025, the number of record-breaking occurrences exceeded 50. As gold prices climb, the topic continues to dominate news headlines and trending topics on social media.

“When the domestic gold price was 300 yuan per gram, I thought it was too expensive and didn't buy it. When it reached 600 yuan, I thought it must be at its peak. Now it's 900 yuan. Is there anything worse than this?” 30-year-old internet product manager Zhang Chen joked at a gathering with friends.

Now, Zhang Chen begins to seriously think about a question: “How should one invest in gold?”

01 Why Can We Still Trust Gold in an Uncertain World

The fluctuations in gold prices are often positively correlated with the “liveliness” of international news. Just like recently, the prospects of the Russia-Ukraine negotiations remain unclear, and the U.S. is sharpening its knives against Venezuela. According to data from the World Gold Council, global central banks will continue to purchase gold in 2025. To borrow a phrase from a sketch, “the world is quite chaotic, full of scheming and intrigues; looking at the global situation, (gold) has its own beautiful scenery here.”

Behind this is a consensus that transcends eras: when the future is uncertain, gold is the most reliable asset certificate. As the ancient Chinese saying goes: “Antiques thrive in prosperous times, gold in chaotic times.” When the world faces challenges and new uncertainties, the prices of assets like antiques and jade, which rely on specific cultural contexts and stable societies, plummet, while the safe-haven property of gold shines once again.

Looking back at the history of human civilization, the role of gold has been enduring, universal, and diverse. Gold possesses the dual stability of physical state and value recognition, and it has strong liquidity, making it a universally recognized “value-preserving artifact” throughout history. The ancient Egyptians referred to gold as the “touchable sun”; from the golden masks of the Mesopotamian civilization to the gold standard of the Bretton Woods system, gold has always been the ultimate store of value and a credit anchor.

Ancient Egypt, Tutankhamun's Golden Mask

Stocks, houses, and financial products often rise and fall together. However, gold acts like a “lone ranger,” with its price movements frequently differing from them.

History is the most powerful proof. During the massive market shock triggered by the pandemic in 2020, U.S. stocks experienced multiple circuit breakers, crude oil futures fell into negative territory, and the global economy was put on pause. Gold exhibited its characteristics, starting from around 1500 dollars at the beginning of the year, rising all the way to a historic high of over 2000 dollars in August of the same year, becoming one of the most dazzling mainstream assets of the year. A recent example is in 2022, when faced with the strongest global inflation and geopolitical conflicts in decades, traditional stock-bond combinations suffered a double blow, with the S&P 500 index down nearly 20%, while gold once again stood firm, maintaining a relatively resilient performance.

Gold, as a monetary asset that does not rely on the credit of any government or institution, naturally becomes the ultimate safe-haven choice due to its globally recognized independence, liquidity, and value storage function. This demand for safe-haven assets tends to surge during times of heightened uncertainty, driving up gold prices and thereby mitigating some of the losses from other assets in an investment portfolio.

In addition to hedging risks and serving as a safe-haven asset, gold also possesses monetary attributes. For thousands of years, it has been the ultimate “anchor” behind money. This imprint is deeply etched in everyone's heart. Although it does not yield interest, it has appreciated steadily over the long term.

It is important to know that the printing press has been continuously working, and the purchasing power of cash is quietly shrinking. Factories can keep producing phones and clothes, but the gold underground is limited and cannot be produced quickly. Therefore, gold is one of the important tools that helps ordinary people’s wealth outpace the speed of money printing and protects purchasing power. What it safeguards is not just the numbers on paper, but how many tangible things that number can be exchanged for.

The reserves and mining speed of gold determine that its stock is difficult to grow rapidly.

Over the past 20 years, priced in RMB, the annualized increase in gold prices has exceeded 10%, outperforming the Shanghai Composite Index and also yielding higher returns than stable investments like ten-year government bonds.

Now it's not just the common people buying; major investment institutions and central banks around the world are also continuously stockpiling gold. Behind this is the trend of de-globalization and de-dollarization, and gold is becoming the most solid trump card for wealth accumulation.

02 From ballast to engine, asset allocation also has a “golden” ratio.

On this day in 2025, as central banks around the world continue to increase their gold reserves and institutional investors reassess their portfolios, gold's role is undergoing a silent transformation: from an ancient store of value to an indispensable strategic cornerstone in modern investment portfolios.

In personal, family, and even institutional investments, gold has gradually evolved from a tactical short-term role into a long-term strategic asset, playing the role of a ballast. If a portfolio is like a football team, then gold investment is like a defensive midfielder in the team, helping to strengthen the defense, organize the defense, mitigate the opponent's offensive (systemic market risks), and become the first outlet when transitioning from defense to offense, linking the entire team and bringing stable returns. Its existence makes the formation of the entire team more solid, the playing style more composed, and allows for better responses to various unexpected situations.

When you invest in other products, whether it's buying a certain amount of accumulated gold, allocating a part of your investment in gold-themed funds, or habitually purchasing one or two small gold bars each year, all of these can be seen as practicing the concept of embedding gold into a diversified investment portfolio. This can achieve risk hedging, asset preservation, and long-term appreciation. Now, there’s a trendy term to describe this long-term oriented concept of allocating gold – “Gold +”.

Embedding gold into a diversified investment portfolio can hedge against risks, preserve asset value, and seek long-term appreciation.

Li Wei, a partner at a private equity fund in Shanghai, is a loyal practitioner of this philosophy. After all, “the market has taught me a lesson.”

Li Wei clearly remembers the market turbulence in 2022: “At that time, there was no gold in my portfolio. When the A-shares underwent a deep correction, even the defensive effect of bonds seemed inadequate, and the overall pullback kept me awake at night.” After that experience, she conducted an in-depth study of the data and found that the correlation coefficient between gold and core domestic assets like the CSI 300 has been close to zero for a long time.

As a typical non-credit asset, the volatility logic of gold does not rely on corporate profits or interest rates, and it has a lower correlation with other investment products. We often say that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, and gold and other “eggs” are not only not in the same basket, but they aren't even on the same table. This means that when stocks and bonds “malfunction,” gold often provides a rare, uncorrelated source of returns, becoming a true ballast in the portfolio. Thus, Li Wei began to treat gold as a long-term fixed allocation.

“The question is not whether to buy gold, but how to increase it.” Now, Li Wei will show clients a screenshot of the account configuration: 60% bond products, 30% equity funds, and 10% gold ETFs.

“Many people treat gold as a tool, only buying high in panic and hurriedly selling during fluctuations,” Li Wei summarized. “But in fact, gold is more like the vitamin pill you take every day. It doesn't cure acute illnesses, but in the long run, it can help strengthen your constitution (the combined risk resistance), giving you more confidence to face the ups and downs of life (the market fluctuations).”

Gold investment has a lower correlation with other investment products, its value is relatively stable, and it has risk-resistant characteristics.

If you imagine your family's investment allocation as a simple “half stocks, half bonds” piggy bank, for the past twenty years, just by adding an extra 10% gold to it, this piggy bank would not drop as hard during the worst market conditions, and over the long term, the returns would be more stable. Over the past 20 years, the average annual return on gold prices in RMB has exceeded 10%, which is quite considerable, but what is even more valuable is that often during the most anxious times, it can stabilize, and even quietly increase a bit, like taking a calming pill.

A simple comparison can illustrate: If, ten years ago, in December 2015, you had invested 10,000 yuan in the Shanghai Composite Index ETF tracking the A-shares of the Shanghai market, after ten years of ups and downs, the current holding value is approximately 8,500 yuan. However, if we had allocated 10% of that amount to a gold ETF and the remaining 90% to the Shanghai Composite Index ETF, the total current market value would be around 12,000 yuan.

As an ordinary person, how should one invest in gold? The principles are understood, but when it comes to taking action, it becomes difficult. “I also know that I should add some gold, but how much is appropriate? With gold prices so high now, can I buy? What if I make the wrong purchase?” It's like knowing that a healthy diet requires balanced nutrition, but when faced with a dazzling array of ingredients and complicated recipes, one instantly loses the desire to cook.

People like Li Wei, who have investment experience and a clear vision, are indeed in the minority. More people lack understanding and grasp of the investment varieties and timing for gold, and therefore fear direct investment in gold.

So, is there a one-stop “gold investment nutrition package”? It is important to know that today's gold investment products are very diverse. You can choose to store gold bars in a safe at home, or opt for modern forms of physical gold, such as bank accumulation gold, where you can purchase gold rights in grams or even smaller units regularly or sporadically. This has a low entry threshold, a strong sense of accumulation, and combines the attributes of savings and investment. You can also directly buy and sell gold ETFs that track domestic gold prices through a securities account, bank account, or even internet platforms. They trade as conveniently as stocks, have good liquidity, and are efficient tools for tracking gold price trends. Additionally, there are many more structurally varied gold-themed funds and investment products linked to gold.

However, for most investors who seek ease and efficiency, researching these products individually and deciding on allocation ratios and timing for buying and selling remains a time-consuming and labor-intensive professional task. What ordinary people need may not be more options, but rather an answer that is based on professional judgment and has already been optimized.

03 Professionalism replaces individual efforts, a new way of investing in gold

As a result, investment portfolio products such as “Gold +” began to emerge. They resemble a carefully curated investment package, encapsulating professional asset allocation logic into financial products accessible to ordinary investors.

Wang Tao is a typical case. “I am a novice investor; I neither have the time to study the market nor do I want to make mistakes in my operations.” As a busy employee at a large company, in early 2024, Wang Tao purchased a multi-asset allocation wealth management product configured with 10% gold on the recommendation of a bank wealth management manager.

The “Gold +” investment products purchased by Wang Tao are multi-asset portfolio products issued by professional financial institutions, which allocate more than 5% gold in their performance benchmarks or asset allocation strategies. It does not require investors to answer the dilemma of “Should I buy gold now?” Instead, the product manager systematically combines gold with other assets (such as stocks, bonds, etc.) according to established investment goals and strategies, transforming the complex allocation process into a one-click purchase solution, making strategic gold allocation as simple and direct as choosing a mature financial plan.

“I don't need to keep an eye on the gold market all the time, nor do I need to understand the specific ratios of stocks and bonds,” said Wang Tao. “Professional institutions have already helped me with the allocation. I just need to know that my investment portfolio includes gold as a stabilizer, and that's enough. After more than a year, my overall return has exceeded 10%, and I see some 'gold+' products with the highest return rate exceeding 40% in two years.”

Wang Tao's experience illustrates that “Gold+” not only brings profits but also leads to a transformation in his understanding. “I gradually realized that for assets like gold, paying attention to their fluctuations over one or two years is not very meaningful; only by holding onto them can their strategic base role be highlighted.” Now, Wang Tao no longer frequently checks short-term fluctuations but instead focuses more on the long-term asset allocation logic itself.

Long-term holding better reflects the value of gold investment.

Of course, recognizing the value of gold does not mean that all funds should be invested in it. The “All in” strategy on a single asset, regardless of what it is, often comes with huge volatility risks and psychological pressure, which is akin to putting all your eggs back into the same basket.

Many investors interested in gold often get stuck on several practical issues: they don't know how much to allocate appropriately, they can't grasp the right timing to buy, and they find it even harder to overcome emotional fluctuations during price rises and falls. The “Gold+” type of products can largely solve these problems. It's somewhat like a “personal trainer for asset allocation,” helping you standardize complex decision-making through established strategies (such as a clear gold allocation ratio, a professional macro assessment adjustment mechanism, and structures that encourage long-term holding). At the same time, ordinary investors often face issues with discipline, getting anxious with small drops and eager to cash out with small gains. In the movie “Goodbye Mr. Loser,” the story of Dachun buying a house early after listening to Xia Luo's advice and then selling it too soon is a dramatic representation of poor investment discipline. Similarly, “Gold+” type products can also help stabilize fluctuating emotions, allowing ordinary people to execute a relatively stable long-term gold allocation plan.

According to statistics from the World Gold Council, from 2021 to the first half of 2025, the number of domestic products explicitly using the “Gold+” strategy has increased from 1 to 24. As of June 2025, 45% of the 515 FOF products in China hold gold. “Gold+” is no longer a marginal attempt but is gradually becoming a common consensus in the asset management industry.

In short, this type of product has accomplished a clever transformation: it integrates professional asset allocation knowledge, macro analytical logic, and the discipline required to counter human volatility into a clear product form. It brings the strategic value of gold as a “safe haven” out of abstract concepts and complex data, turning it into a concrete plan that investors can execute and hold in their accounts.

The value of gold investment lies not only in its stability but also in its diverse forms, allowing everyone to find a suitable way to invest in gold. In today's era, it seems that each of us can consider how to seize the “era bonus” through gold. Among the various gold investment options, at least from an operational perspective, “Gold+” is undoubtedly one of the most user-friendly products for ordinary people.

True wealth management is not about seeking shortcuts to overnight riches, but about building a resilient long-distance mechanism that can accompany you through cycles.