Gold’s greatest merit is still its reliability as an instrument for wealth preservation, said Ani Markova, Vice-President & Portfolio Manager, AGF Investments. “Gold is an asset class that investors should have in their portfolios to diversify them, especially at times when we see equity market volatility,” Markova told Kitco News on the sidelines of the Mines & Money conference in Toronto. Longer term, investors should depend on gold’s wealth preservation power, Markova said, citing gold price’s parity to the cost of a suit over time as an example of its steady relative value. “If you wanted to buy a men’s suit back in the 1930s, you probably would have paid about $16.95 for a good quality suit and you throw in pair of shoes for $3.25, which is about $20, and that was roughly the cost of one ounce of gold in the beginning of the ‘30s” Markova said. “If I look today, at U.S. dollar terms, we are at about $1,200 U.S. and if you walk into Harren Rosen suit for about that.”
