Jamie Dimon isn’t a fan of gold as an investment, but with the asset at record prices, he said adding it to your portfolio might actually make sense right now.
Gold, sought by investors as a hedge against inflation and volatility, hit a record high of $4,201 per troy ounce on Wednesday and is up about 59% for the year. Speaking at Fortune’s Most Influential Women At this week’s summit, JPMorgan Chase’s chairman and CEO said the price could rise even further, depending on the current state of the market.
“It could easily reach $5,000 or $10,000 in environments like this,” he said.
Dimon added that due to the skyrocketing price of the asset, which this week hit its 47th closing high of the year, it might make sense to hold on.
Although Dimon said he is “not a gold buyer,” noting that “it costs 4% to own it,” he added that due to the current market, holding gold can make sense.
“It’s one of the few times in my life where it’s semi-rational to have some in your wallet,” he said.
Stuart Isett-Fortune
However, gold, which hovered around $2,000 just two years ago, remains expensive, even though that trend is “touching almost everything right now,” Dimon said.
Investors generally suggest allocating 5% or less of their portfolio to gold. Yet recently, some financial executives such as Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, have recommended higher allocations to gold. Dalio said earlier this month that investors should invest 15% of their portfolio in gold, which he called a “very excellent diversification tool.”
Other players in the financial world have sounded the alarm about the rise in gold, especially since its rise could reflect investors’ anxiety about the economy. Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, is among the big names sounding the alarm about the unusual rise in gold.
“I now view gold as a safe-haven asset, the same way the dollar was once viewed. That’s what really worries me,” he told Bloomberg earlier this month.
