[amh]

Problem is, precious metals have an expected return of 0%. One gold bar sitting on a shelf is still one gold bar ten years later. Commodities are not necessarily a bad idea to own in moderation, but stocks and bonds are what allow your portfolio to benefit from economic growth.

For those who are enamored with gold and want to invest conservatively, I would look at something like the Permanent Portfolio (http://crawlingroad.com/blog/2008/12/22/permanent-portfolio-...) Not how I would invest personally, but the PP isn't an unreasonable approach.