case for gold optimal portfolio allocation
DESCRIPTION
Asset AllocationTRANSCRIPT
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 17
Figure 1 shows a typical way o depicting
the Efficient Frontier between stock
and bonds indicating what the optima
portolio with the highest Sharpe ratio
would be the particular allocation to stock
and bonds respectively that would yield
the best risk-adjusted return Te theory
is not without its critics notably because
hindsight is ofen a key ingredient as to
how an Optimal Portolio is constructed
1
The Case for GoldOptimal Portfolio Allocation
Introduction
How can an investor get guidance
on how to construct a portolio
that will protect them should
the stock market have another losing
streak that lasts more than a ew days Inthis white paper we discuss this question
while specifically looking at the portolio
impact o gold
In our previous two gold white papers1 we
discussed key reasons investors typically
cite supporting an investment in gold as
well as the benefits that gold provides or
portolio diversification Tis white paper
ocuses on what the optimal portolio
allocation in gold would have been
according to Modern Portolio Teory
over several different periods o time
In 1934 the price o gold was $35 an ounce
as o February 28 2014 it was $1326
yielding an average return o about 5
Gold bugs might argue this suggests gold
should have a permanent place in investorsrsquo portolios Conversely however those
thinking the yellow metal is a barbarous
relic may only see themselves confirmed in
their view that gold is overpriced Keep in
mind the same point can be made about
stocks historical returns are not ldquoproordquo o
uture returns Without endorsing either
view letrsquos have a look at how an investor
could have combined gold and equities to
enhance risk-adjusted returns
Modern Portfolio Teory
One academic theory the Modern Portolio
Teory presents an Efficient Frontier an
investment mix that maximizes expected
returns or a given amount o expected
risk An Optimal Portolio provides the
highest risk-adjusted return ofen defined
by proessional investors as the portolio
with the highest Sharpe ratio a measure
o return per unit o risk as measured by
standard deviation o returns
ldquoOptimal Portfolio provides the highestrisk-adjusted returnrdquo
1 Please see Merk Investmentsrsquo Gold White Papers ldquoCase or Gold Invest in the Ultimate Currencyrdquo and ldquoCase or Gold Portolio Benefits o the Ultimate Currencyrdquo
March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
Figure 1 Efficient Frontier Example
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 27
ime Horizons Studied
Our paper analyzes what an Optimal
Portolio containing gold and equities
would have looked like over three different
time horizons
Past 10 years (daily data rombull
February 2004 ndash February 28 2014)
Since August 1971 (monthly databull
rom July 31 1971 ndash February 28 2014)
Since 1934 (monthly data rombull
December 31 1933 ndash February 28 2014)
While a 10-year horizon appears reasonably
long keep in mind that five years ago we
were right at the peak o the financial crisis
we wanted our time period to be long
enough to include ldquonormalrdquo times as well
as ldquocrisisrdquo For a longer historic comparison
2 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
o over 30 years we choose August 1971
as a reerence point to gauge the long-term
perormance o gold it was on August
15 1971 that President Nixon ended the
convertibility o the dollar to gold
While that is truly a long-term horizon
one could argue that the gold price was
artificially depressed until then and as a
result any return calculated since then
might overstate the potential long-term
rate o return or gold o address that
criticism as a third variant we went all
the way back to the beginning o 1934
when the Gold Reserve Act changed the
nominal price o gold rom $2067 per
troy ounce to $35
Figure 2 10-Year Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold
100 allocation to Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1250 1450 1650 1850 2050 2250 2450
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
February 28 2004 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury billData Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable
Figure 3 10-Year Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold
Gold Allocation68
SampP 500 Allocation32
Annualized Return 1284 716
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
2005 2038
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
057 028
Gold vs SampP 500 - 10 Years
amp (() amp (+) Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
1128
1551
063
(+) - 012345143 674 81234514 928
By going back that ar we had to limit
ourselves to a comparison between
gold and stocks (using the SampP 500)
to reduce data quality issues with bond
indices i we wanted to include bonds
We include dividends in equity returns
and consider a ldquorisk reerdquo rate to find
the Optimal Portolio Also note
Te SampP 500 Index was onlybull
created in 1957 but a composite o
the index is available that we believe is
a good representation o the preceding
years
Dividend inormation is notbull
readily available or all years As aresult we relied on research o others
Since 1934 the average dividend yield
o the SampP 500 has been approximately
369
When studying the results o our analysi
and the accompanying figures please keep
in mind
Tese are not investmenbull
recommendations
Tese models use perect hindsightbull
ie suggesting what would have been the
Optimal Portolio given the returns and
risks prevalent during the period
Te Optimal Portolios are chosenbull
in the beginning o the period and never
rebalanced In a uture analysis we wil
discuss the impact o periodic rebalancing
Te 10-Year View
Figure 2 shows the Efficient Frontier
between stocks and gold over a 10-year
time horizon We used the SampP 500 Index
as a proxy or the stock market Figure 3
summarizes the allocation to gold and
stocks (SampP 500) respectively that
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 37
100 allocation to
Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
800
850
900
950
1000
1050
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
July 31 1971 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury billData Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-
3
would yield the Optimal Portolio or the
same time rame Tese findings suggest
that given a choice between investing in
the SampP 500 and gold an investor would
have had the best risk-adjusted returns
investing 68 in gold and 32 in theSampP 500 Allocating more to equities
might have yielded higher returns but
the volatility o returns would have been
substantially higher
Does this mean an investor should have
more than hal o their investable assets in
gold No among other reasons because
We donrsquot know what returns gold andbull
the SampP 500 will provide going orward
Te investment universe is comprisedbull
o more than the SampP 500 and gold
One possible conclusion is that adding anyuncorrelated asset to the SampP 500 may
improve an overall portolio But the data
also suggests that i onersquos outlook or gold
or the SampP 500 is different rom what it
has been in the past ten years the ldquooptimal
portoliordquo may look different For a longer
time period please see Figures 4 and 5
Te 30+ Year View
Going back to August 1971 the optimal
gold allocation drops rom 68 to 29
Mind you this includes the run-up in
1980 as well as the subsequent 20-year
bear market in gold that ollowed Itrsquos likely
there arenrsquot many investors that piled up
on gold and the SampP back in 1971 then
March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
ldquoAdding a goldallocation to stock
portfolio improved itsrisk-adjusted returnrdquo
never rebalanced their portolio Still the
takeaway should be that diversification
with uncorrelated assets matter as it is
possible to substantially lower the volatility
o a portolio by adding an uncorrelated
asset Tat applies despite the act that
gold was more volatile than the SampP 500
Figure 4 Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold Since 1971
Figure 5 Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold Since 1971
Gold Allocation29
SampP 500 Allocation71
Annualized Return 853 1029
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
2023 1540
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
017 034039
$amp () +-(0( 12 3-(0( 45-36(
Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
989
1243
Gold vs SampP 500 since 1971
789 lt =gt (A Blt $amp
ldquoDiversication withuncorrelated assetsmatters as it is possibleto substantially lowerthe volatility of a
portfolio by adding anuncorrelated assetrdquo
since 1971 (different rom the risk profile
over the most recent 5 year period where
gold was less volatile than the SampP 500)
Now letrsquos go back 80 years please look at
Figures 6 and 7 (next page)
Allocating 41 to gold since 1934 would
have according to the theory providedthe ldquooptimalrdquo risk adjusted return by
sacrificing just a little in return the overal
volatility o the portolio could have
been substantially lowered A couple o
caveats
Tere were restrictions on own goldbull
ownership or US persons rom 1933 ndash
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 474 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
Figure 6 Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold since 1934
100 allocation to Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
December 31 1933 - February 28 2014
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Gold Allocation41
SampP 500 Allocation59
Annualized Return 502 1055
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
1538 1582
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
009 044
Gold vs SampP 500 since 1934
amp amp( ) + - amp
983
1139
055
Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
0 amp 123 456789587 8 lt5678958 =gt6lt
Figure 7 Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold since 1934
1974 the rules were amended over the
years effectively starting in 1964 US
persons were able to at least invest in gold
certificates
Until 1971 the price o gold was notbull
ree floating the model as a result gives
the appearance that gold was less risky
(ie the dollar price less volatile) than it
might have been in a ree market We are
talking about hidden risks here not well
captured when using historical standard
deviation o returns although the risk
was ultimately more to the US dollar that
plunged relative to gold once the yellow
metal was cut loose in 1971
Te above chart shows that the Opti-bull
mal Portolio is not at the tip o the curve
to understand why look back at Figure 1
to find the best risk-adjusted return the
portolio with the highest sharpe ratio it
is in the context o a benchmark risk-ree
return Since 1934 the average ldquorisk reerdquo
rate over the past 80 years was 367 Itrsquos
air to question using the same average
risk-ree rate or all those years
By using December 31 1933 as thebull
starting point we are putting gold at a
competitive disadvantage as the market
had plunged relative to the heights seen
beore the 1929 stock market crash At the
end o 2013 a Wall Street Journal article
reerenced the long-term annual return o
the SampP 500 as 55 since 1927 Alter-
natively we observed almost double the
amount at 1055 Aside rom the 1929
crash (rom which there was a partial re-covery by the end o 1933) the difference
is explained by the act that the returns
stated by the Wall Street Journal exclude
the reinvestment o dividends
Gold in a Balanced ldquo6040rdquo Portfolio
With this context provided letrsquos look
again at the past 10 years but this time
adding bonds into the mix We assume a
static 6040 ratio o stocks to bonds ofen
reerred to as a Balanced Portolio then
add the ldquooptimalrdquo amount o gold to the
mix ndash again using hindsight take a look at
Figures 8 and 9 (next page)
Unlike the first example that suggested a
68 allocation to gold when combined
with stocks a 42 allocation to gold
added to a Balanced Portolio would have
yielded the Optimal Portolio Here gold
outperorms the balanced portolio by
a tad yet one can lower the overall risk
profile o a balanced portolio by adding
a gold component
Clearly past returns are no proo o uture
results Will the seemingly meteoric rise o
stocks continue Have we reached a peak
in bonds In act over the past 5 years
ldquoOne can lower theoverall risk prole ofa balanced portfolio
by adding a goldcomponent rdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 57
Real estatebull
Commodities including goldbull
Currencies (directional) such as abull
managed basket o currencies
Currencies (non-directional) such asbull
an absolute return ldquolongshortrdquo strategy Managed uturesbull
Hedge undsbull
What Correlation
o find an Optimal Portolio itrsquos
important to understand how the
underlying securities in the portolio
interact with one another But thatrsquos not so
trivial as correlations across securities and
asset classes are not stable o illustrate the
point most have heard that the US dolla
benefits rom a ldquoflight to saetyrdquo Tat mayhave been the case or a little over two
years up to the summer o 2012 but ever
since then the ldquorisk onrdquo ldquorisk off rdquo trade
became more complicated
Or to quote another example when
money fled emerging market local debt
where investors thought they could have a
ree lunch picking up yield with little risk
such money didnrsquot go into the US dollar
but started to chase yields in government
bonds o weaker Eurozone countries
Or take gold there are periods it moves
in tandem with the stock market others
where it moves in the opposite direction
Indeed there are periods when gold has
been a hedge against a alling stock market
Gold Allocation42
Balanced 6040Portfolio 58
Annualized Return 1284 672
Annualized Risk(Standard Devaiation of Returns)
2005 1192
Sharpe Ratio(highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
057 044
Gold vs Balanced 6040 Portfolio - 10 Years
amp (() amp (+) Optimal Portfolio
074
(+) - 012345143 674 81234514 928
Gold100
Balanced 6040 Portfolio100
987
1135
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
5 March 2014
Figure 8 10-Year Efficient Frontier of Balanced Portfolio and Gold
Figure 9 10-Year Optimal Balanced Portfolio and Gold
100 allocation to
6040 Portfolio
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Gold and Balanced 6040 Portfolio
February 28 2004 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Bonds Barclays US Agg Total Return Value Index
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable
bonds came out way ahead as the volatilityin bonds was abnormally low this changed
as o the ldquotaper talkrdquo in early 2013 And
even i one likes the value proposition o
gold itrsquos only prudent to take into account
that gold price is volatile and its significant
price decline o -28 experienced in 2013
may repeat itsel rom time to time (As
o the writing this paper in March 2014
gold has rebounded by +12 in the first
10 weeks o the year) I one extrapolatedrom the recent negative returns o gold
the ldquooptimal portoliordquo may well suggest
a 0 allocation to gold assuming other
asset classes yield positive returns
What are the Other Alternatives
Most investors donrsquot allocate 30+ o their
portolios to gold neither can we make
such an investment recommendation But
as limited as the analysis here is we should
really be asking the opposite question
is it sensible or investors to have up to
70 possibly more o their portolio in
stocks Tis exercise shows that adding
investments with low correlation to stocks
may improve a portolio by enhancing itsrisk-adjusted return
Aside rom including international stocks
and bonds other candidates to consider
or inclusion in an investment portolio
are
ldquoAdding investmentswith low correlation tostocks may improve a
portfolio by enhancingits risk-adjustedreturnrdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 676 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
2 An investor cannot invest directly in an index Alternative investments are represented by the ollowing indicesGold is represented by the Gold Spot price (USD per roy Ounce)bull
Currency Directional is represented by the Inverse US Dollar (Inv DXY) Index a measure o the inverse value o the United States dollar relative to a basket o oreign curren-bull
cies including EUR JPY GBP CAD CHF and SEKCurrency Non-Directional is represented by the Deutsche Bank Currency Returns Index - USD (DBCRUSI Index) Tis index captures the long term systematic returns bybull
systematically replicating the three strategies most widely employed in the FX market (Carry rade Momentum and Valuation)Real Estate is represented by the FSE NAREI US ALL REIs Index Tis index spans the commercial real estate space across the US economy It provides exposure to allbull
investment and property sectorsCommodities is represented by the DB Liquid Commodity Index Tis index serves as a liquid and diversified benchmark or commodities asset classbull
Managed Futures is represented by the Morningstaruml Diversified Futures Index (DFI) It provides a benchmark or exposure to global markets through exchange listed utures-bull
contracts in commodities currencies and equitiesHedge Funds is represented by the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is the global industry standard or perormance measurement across all aspects o the hedge und industrybull
International Equities are represented by the MSCI EAFE Index Tis index measures the equity perormance o developed markets outside o the US and Canadabull
Correlation of Equities and Bonds versus Alternative Investments and International Equities
GoldCurrency
DirectionalCurrency Non-
DirectionalReal Estate Commodities
ManagedFutures
HedgeFunds
InternationalEquities
US Equities 007 015 024 080 031 -016 058 050
US Bonds 012 -014 011 -017 -014 002 -013 -011
Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Period 02282004 - 02282014
Figure 10 Correlation of Alternative In983158estments
the result is unbiased simply because you
let a computer generate results Indeed
one o the biggest challenges in presenting
Optimal Portolios is that they are heavily
influenced by the underlying assumptions
Someone can show you that a given
investment would have made a antastic
addition to your portolio but you may
want to look more closely whether theassumptions are realistic going orward
What Risk
Just as returns play a role so does risk In
finance a lot o investors employ standard
deviation o returns as a measure o risk
Yet many investors are just fine with
ldquoupside riskrdquo but do have a problem with
ldquodownside riskrdquo (therersquos a measure or
that the Sortino Ratio) Maybe just as
relevant these models are not very good
at capturing high risk low probability
events also called market crashes In other
words an optimization analysis that uses
historical returns may understate risk i
the time period used does not capture a
market crash in that given asset Further
many measures o risk are relative to a
benchmark ldquorisk reerdquo rate but in todayrsquos
world one might argue that therersquos no
such thing as a risk ree investment in an
environment with negative real interest
rates placing onersquos purchasing power is at
risk no matter what one does
Optimal Portfolio Really
Te takeaway rom this exercise may
be to look at alternatives in general as asupplement to a traditional equity and
bond portolio Investors may want to
take a pro-active approach to learn how to
add value to a portolio keeping an open
mind about the risks and opportunities
out there especially afer the run-up the
stock market has had
o invest profitably it may be more about
developing a robust investment process
rather than plugging in make believe
numbers into a model We will publish
more analyses on how to diversiy in
times like these Please subscribe to Merk
Insights and ollow us on witter to be
inormed as we publish more analyses
on how to diversiy in times like these
Finally please read our gold white papers
amp reports
but itrsquos not always inversely correlated with
the stock market Gold may also thrive in
a rising interest rate environment as it did
in the late 1970s
Figure 10 shows a selection o otheralternative investments2 and how they
correlate to both equities and bonds
Note that in recent years international
equities have had a comparatively high
correlation to the SampP 500 We have been
arguing or some time that investors in
international stocks may have primarily
been receiving additional return through
commensurately higher risk rather than
improving the overall returnrisk profile o
their portolios As a result we encourage
investors to consider truer orms o
diversification noting that currency
strategies may provide particularly low
correlation to US stocks and bonds Gold
is a well-known way to diversiy out o the
US dollar however there may be other
opportunities worth exploring urther
What Return
Te theory works best when we plug in
ldquoexpectedrdquo returns Wouldnrsquot it be great i
we knew tomorrowrsquos return In practice
many investors use historical returns As
you might imagine these models heavily
avors assets that had a good return during
the given look-back period ndash so donrsquot think
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 77
To Learn about the potential portfolio benets of adding gold to your investment portfolio please sign up to our newsletter Merk Insights at
wwwmerkinvestmentscomnewsletter
About the Authors
Axel Merk is the President and CIO o Merk Investments manager o the Merk Funds An authority on gold and other hard
currencies he is a pioneer in the use o strategic currency investing to seek diversification Axel Merk is a sought afer speake
and author on topics ranging rom the economy gold and currencies to sustainable wealth and personal finance as well as a
regular guest and contributor to the business media around the world
Perormance data quoted represents past perormance Past perormance is no guarantee o uture results Due to market 983158olatility curren
perormance may be less or higher than the figures shown In983158estment return and principal value will fluctuate so that upon redemption shares may be worth more or less than their original cost It is not possible to in983158est directly in an index
Tis report was prepared by Merk In983158estments LLC and reflects the current opinion o the authors It is based upon sources and data
believed to be accurate and reliable Merk In983158estments LLC makes no representation regarding the advisability o in983158esting in the products
herein Opinions and orward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice Tis inormation does not constitute
in983158estment advice and is not intended as an endorsement o any specific in983158estment Te inormation contained herein is general in nature
and is pro983158ided solely or educational and inormational purposes Te inormation pro983158ided does not constitute legal financial or tax
advice You should obtain advice specific to your circumstances fom your own legal financial and tax advisors As with any in983158estment
past perormance is no guarantee o uture perormance
Explicit permission must be obtained from Merk Investments LLC in order to replicate copy distribute or quote from this
document or any portion thereof
Published by Merk Investments LLC March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
7 March 2014
For more inormation please contact us
(866) 637-5386
wwwmerkinvestmentscom
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLCreg
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 27
ime Horizons Studied
Our paper analyzes what an Optimal
Portolio containing gold and equities
would have looked like over three different
time horizons
Past 10 years (daily data rombull
February 2004 ndash February 28 2014)
Since August 1971 (monthly databull
rom July 31 1971 ndash February 28 2014)
Since 1934 (monthly data rombull
December 31 1933 ndash February 28 2014)
While a 10-year horizon appears reasonably
long keep in mind that five years ago we
were right at the peak o the financial crisis
we wanted our time period to be long
enough to include ldquonormalrdquo times as well
as ldquocrisisrdquo For a longer historic comparison
2 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
o over 30 years we choose August 1971
as a reerence point to gauge the long-term
perormance o gold it was on August
15 1971 that President Nixon ended the
convertibility o the dollar to gold
While that is truly a long-term horizon
one could argue that the gold price was
artificially depressed until then and as a
result any return calculated since then
might overstate the potential long-term
rate o return or gold o address that
criticism as a third variant we went all
the way back to the beginning o 1934
when the Gold Reserve Act changed the
nominal price o gold rom $2067 per
troy ounce to $35
Figure 2 10-Year Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold
100 allocation to Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1250 1450 1650 1850 2050 2250 2450
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
February 28 2004 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury billData Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable
Figure 3 10-Year Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold
Gold Allocation68
SampP 500 Allocation32
Annualized Return 1284 716
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
2005 2038
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
057 028
Gold vs SampP 500 - 10 Years
amp (() amp (+) Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
1128
1551
063
(+) - 012345143 674 81234514 928
By going back that ar we had to limit
ourselves to a comparison between
gold and stocks (using the SampP 500)
to reduce data quality issues with bond
indices i we wanted to include bonds
We include dividends in equity returns
and consider a ldquorisk reerdquo rate to find
the Optimal Portolio Also note
Te SampP 500 Index was onlybull
created in 1957 but a composite o
the index is available that we believe is
a good representation o the preceding
years
Dividend inormation is notbull
readily available or all years As aresult we relied on research o others
Since 1934 the average dividend yield
o the SampP 500 has been approximately
369
When studying the results o our analysi
and the accompanying figures please keep
in mind
Tese are not investmenbull
recommendations
Tese models use perect hindsightbull
ie suggesting what would have been the
Optimal Portolio given the returns and
risks prevalent during the period
Te Optimal Portolios are chosenbull
in the beginning o the period and never
rebalanced In a uture analysis we wil
discuss the impact o periodic rebalancing
Te 10-Year View
Figure 2 shows the Efficient Frontier
between stocks and gold over a 10-year
time horizon We used the SampP 500 Index
as a proxy or the stock market Figure 3
summarizes the allocation to gold and
stocks (SampP 500) respectively that
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 37
100 allocation to
Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
800
850
900
950
1000
1050
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
July 31 1971 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury billData Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-
3
would yield the Optimal Portolio or the
same time rame Tese findings suggest
that given a choice between investing in
the SampP 500 and gold an investor would
have had the best risk-adjusted returns
investing 68 in gold and 32 in theSampP 500 Allocating more to equities
might have yielded higher returns but
the volatility o returns would have been
substantially higher
Does this mean an investor should have
more than hal o their investable assets in
gold No among other reasons because
We donrsquot know what returns gold andbull
the SampP 500 will provide going orward
Te investment universe is comprisedbull
o more than the SampP 500 and gold
One possible conclusion is that adding anyuncorrelated asset to the SampP 500 may
improve an overall portolio But the data
also suggests that i onersquos outlook or gold
or the SampP 500 is different rom what it
has been in the past ten years the ldquooptimal
portoliordquo may look different For a longer
time period please see Figures 4 and 5
Te 30+ Year View
Going back to August 1971 the optimal
gold allocation drops rom 68 to 29
Mind you this includes the run-up in
1980 as well as the subsequent 20-year
bear market in gold that ollowed Itrsquos likely
there arenrsquot many investors that piled up
on gold and the SampP back in 1971 then
March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
ldquoAdding a goldallocation to stock
portfolio improved itsrisk-adjusted returnrdquo
never rebalanced their portolio Still the
takeaway should be that diversification
with uncorrelated assets matter as it is
possible to substantially lower the volatility
o a portolio by adding an uncorrelated
asset Tat applies despite the act that
gold was more volatile than the SampP 500
Figure 4 Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold Since 1971
Figure 5 Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold Since 1971
Gold Allocation29
SampP 500 Allocation71
Annualized Return 853 1029
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
2023 1540
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
017 034039
$amp () +-(0( 12 3-(0( 45-36(
Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
989
1243
Gold vs SampP 500 since 1971
789 lt =gt (A Blt $amp
ldquoDiversication withuncorrelated assetsmatters as it is possibleto substantially lowerthe volatility of a
portfolio by adding anuncorrelated assetrdquo
since 1971 (different rom the risk profile
over the most recent 5 year period where
gold was less volatile than the SampP 500)
Now letrsquos go back 80 years please look at
Figures 6 and 7 (next page)
Allocating 41 to gold since 1934 would
have according to the theory providedthe ldquooptimalrdquo risk adjusted return by
sacrificing just a little in return the overal
volatility o the portolio could have
been substantially lowered A couple o
caveats
Tere were restrictions on own goldbull
ownership or US persons rom 1933 ndash
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 474 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
Figure 6 Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold since 1934
100 allocation to Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
December 31 1933 - February 28 2014
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Gold Allocation41
SampP 500 Allocation59
Annualized Return 502 1055
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
1538 1582
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
009 044
Gold vs SampP 500 since 1934
amp amp( ) + - amp
983
1139
055
Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
0 amp 123 456789587 8 lt5678958 =gt6lt
Figure 7 Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold since 1934
1974 the rules were amended over the
years effectively starting in 1964 US
persons were able to at least invest in gold
certificates
Until 1971 the price o gold was notbull
ree floating the model as a result gives
the appearance that gold was less risky
(ie the dollar price less volatile) than it
might have been in a ree market We are
talking about hidden risks here not well
captured when using historical standard
deviation o returns although the risk
was ultimately more to the US dollar that
plunged relative to gold once the yellow
metal was cut loose in 1971
Te above chart shows that the Opti-bull
mal Portolio is not at the tip o the curve
to understand why look back at Figure 1
to find the best risk-adjusted return the
portolio with the highest sharpe ratio it
is in the context o a benchmark risk-ree
return Since 1934 the average ldquorisk reerdquo
rate over the past 80 years was 367 Itrsquos
air to question using the same average
risk-ree rate or all those years
By using December 31 1933 as thebull
starting point we are putting gold at a
competitive disadvantage as the market
had plunged relative to the heights seen
beore the 1929 stock market crash At the
end o 2013 a Wall Street Journal article
reerenced the long-term annual return o
the SampP 500 as 55 since 1927 Alter-
natively we observed almost double the
amount at 1055 Aside rom the 1929
crash (rom which there was a partial re-covery by the end o 1933) the difference
is explained by the act that the returns
stated by the Wall Street Journal exclude
the reinvestment o dividends
Gold in a Balanced ldquo6040rdquo Portfolio
With this context provided letrsquos look
again at the past 10 years but this time
adding bonds into the mix We assume a
static 6040 ratio o stocks to bonds ofen
reerred to as a Balanced Portolio then
add the ldquooptimalrdquo amount o gold to the
mix ndash again using hindsight take a look at
Figures 8 and 9 (next page)
Unlike the first example that suggested a
68 allocation to gold when combined
with stocks a 42 allocation to gold
added to a Balanced Portolio would have
yielded the Optimal Portolio Here gold
outperorms the balanced portolio by
a tad yet one can lower the overall risk
profile o a balanced portolio by adding
a gold component
Clearly past returns are no proo o uture
results Will the seemingly meteoric rise o
stocks continue Have we reached a peak
in bonds In act over the past 5 years
ldquoOne can lower theoverall risk prole ofa balanced portfolio
by adding a goldcomponent rdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 57
Real estatebull
Commodities including goldbull
Currencies (directional) such as abull
managed basket o currencies
Currencies (non-directional) such asbull
an absolute return ldquolongshortrdquo strategy Managed uturesbull
Hedge undsbull
What Correlation
o find an Optimal Portolio itrsquos
important to understand how the
underlying securities in the portolio
interact with one another But thatrsquos not so
trivial as correlations across securities and
asset classes are not stable o illustrate the
point most have heard that the US dolla
benefits rom a ldquoflight to saetyrdquo Tat mayhave been the case or a little over two
years up to the summer o 2012 but ever
since then the ldquorisk onrdquo ldquorisk off rdquo trade
became more complicated
Or to quote another example when
money fled emerging market local debt
where investors thought they could have a
ree lunch picking up yield with little risk
such money didnrsquot go into the US dollar
but started to chase yields in government
bonds o weaker Eurozone countries
Or take gold there are periods it moves
in tandem with the stock market others
where it moves in the opposite direction
Indeed there are periods when gold has
been a hedge against a alling stock market
Gold Allocation42
Balanced 6040Portfolio 58
Annualized Return 1284 672
Annualized Risk(Standard Devaiation of Returns)
2005 1192
Sharpe Ratio(highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
057 044
Gold vs Balanced 6040 Portfolio - 10 Years
amp (() amp (+) Optimal Portfolio
074
(+) - 012345143 674 81234514 928
Gold100
Balanced 6040 Portfolio100
987
1135
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
5 March 2014
Figure 8 10-Year Efficient Frontier of Balanced Portfolio and Gold
Figure 9 10-Year Optimal Balanced Portfolio and Gold
100 allocation to
6040 Portfolio
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Gold and Balanced 6040 Portfolio
February 28 2004 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Bonds Barclays US Agg Total Return Value Index
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable
bonds came out way ahead as the volatilityin bonds was abnormally low this changed
as o the ldquotaper talkrdquo in early 2013 And
even i one likes the value proposition o
gold itrsquos only prudent to take into account
that gold price is volatile and its significant
price decline o -28 experienced in 2013
may repeat itsel rom time to time (As
o the writing this paper in March 2014
gold has rebounded by +12 in the first
10 weeks o the year) I one extrapolatedrom the recent negative returns o gold
the ldquooptimal portoliordquo may well suggest
a 0 allocation to gold assuming other
asset classes yield positive returns
What are the Other Alternatives
Most investors donrsquot allocate 30+ o their
portolios to gold neither can we make
such an investment recommendation But
as limited as the analysis here is we should
really be asking the opposite question
is it sensible or investors to have up to
70 possibly more o their portolio in
stocks Tis exercise shows that adding
investments with low correlation to stocks
may improve a portolio by enhancing itsrisk-adjusted return
Aside rom including international stocks
and bonds other candidates to consider
or inclusion in an investment portolio
are
ldquoAdding investmentswith low correlation tostocks may improve a
portfolio by enhancingits risk-adjustedreturnrdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 676 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
2 An investor cannot invest directly in an index Alternative investments are represented by the ollowing indicesGold is represented by the Gold Spot price (USD per roy Ounce)bull
Currency Directional is represented by the Inverse US Dollar (Inv DXY) Index a measure o the inverse value o the United States dollar relative to a basket o oreign curren-bull
cies including EUR JPY GBP CAD CHF and SEKCurrency Non-Directional is represented by the Deutsche Bank Currency Returns Index - USD (DBCRUSI Index) Tis index captures the long term systematic returns bybull
systematically replicating the three strategies most widely employed in the FX market (Carry rade Momentum and Valuation)Real Estate is represented by the FSE NAREI US ALL REIs Index Tis index spans the commercial real estate space across the US economy It provides exposure to allbull
investment and property sectorsCommodities is represented by the DB Liquid Commodity Index Tis index serves as a liquid and diversified benchmark or commodities asset classbull
Managed Futures is represented by the Morningstaruml Diversified Futures Index (DFI) It provides a benchmark or exposure to global markets through exchange listed utures-bull
contracts in commodities currencies and equitiesHedge Funds is represented by the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is the global industry standard or perormance measurement across all aspects o the hedge und industrybull
International Equities are represented by the MSCI EAFE Index Tis index measures the equity perormance o developed markets outside o the US and Canadabull
Correlation of Equities and Bonds versus Alternative Investments and International Equities
GoldCurrency
DirectionalCurrency Non-
DirectionalReal Estate Commodities
ManagedFutures
HedgeFunds
InternationalEquities
US Equities 007 015 024 080 031 -016 058 050
US Bonds 012 -014 011 -017 -014 002 -013 -011
Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Period 02282004 - 02282014
Figure 10 Correlation of Alternative In983158estments
the result is unbiased simply because you
let a computer generate results Indeed
one o the biggest challenges in presenting
Optimal Portolios is that they are heavily
influenced by the underlying assumptions
Someone can show you that a given
investment would have made a antastic
addition to your portolio but you may
want to look more closely whether theassumptions are realistic going orward
What Risk
Just as returns play a role so does risk In
finance a lot o investors employ standard
deviation o returns as a measure o risk
Yet many investors are just fine with
ldquoupside riskrdquo but do have a problem with
ldquodownside riskrdquo (therersquos a measure or
that the Sortino Ratio) Maybe just as
relevant these models are not very good
at capturing high risk low probability
events also called market crashes In other
words an optimization analysis that uses
historical returns may understate risk i
the time period used does not capture a
market crash in that given asset Further
many measures o risk are relative to a
benchmark ldquorisk reerdquo rate but in todayrsquos
world one might argue that therersquos no
such thing as a risk ree investment in an
environment with negative real interest
rates placing onersquos purchasing power is at
risk no matter what one does
Optimal Portfolio Really
Te takeaway rom this exercise may
be to look at alternatives in general as asupplement to a traditional equity and
bond portolio Investors may want to
take a pro-active approach to learn how to
add value to a portolio keeping an open
mind about the risks and opportunities
out there especially afer the run-up the
stock market has had
o invest profitably it may be more about
developing a robust investment process
rather than plugging in make believe
numbers into a model We will publish
more analyses on how to diversiy in
times like these Please subscribe to Merk
Insights and ollow us on witter to be
inormed as we publish more analyses
on how to diversiy in times like these
Finally please read our gold white papers
amp reports
but itrsquos not always inversely correlated with
the stock market Gold may also thrive in
a rising interest rate environment as it did
in the late 1970s
Figure 10 shows a selection o otheralternative investments2 and how they
correlate to both equities and bonds
Note that in recent years international
equities have had a comparatively high
correlation to the SampP 500 We have been
arguing or some time that investors in
international stocks may have primarily
been receiving additional return through
commensurately higher risk rather than
improving the overall returnrisk profile o
their portolios As a result we encourage
investors to consider truer orms o
diversification noting that currency
strategies may provide particularly low
correlation to US stocks and bonds Gold
is a well-known way to diversiy out o the
US dollar however there may be other
opportunities worth exploring urther
What Return
Te theory works best when we plug in
ldquoexpectedrdquo returns Wouldnrsquot it be great i
we knew tomorrowrsquos return In practice
many investors use historical returns As
you might imagine these models heavily
avors assets that had a good return during
the given look-back period ndash so donrsquot think
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 77
To Learn about the potential portfolio benets of adding gold to your investment portfolio please sign up to our newsletter Merk Insights at
wwwmerkinvestmentscomnewsletter
About the Authors
Axel Merk is the President and CIO o Merk Investments manager o the Merk Funds An authority on gold and other hard
currencies he is a pioneer in the use o strategic currency investing to seek diversification Axel Merk is a sought afer speake
and author on topics ranging rom the economy gold and currencies to sustainable wealth and personal finance as well as a
regular guest and contributor to the business media around the world
Perormance data quoted represents past perormance Past perormance is no guarantee o uture results Due to market 983158olatility curren
perormance may be less or higher than the figures shown In983158estment return and principal value will fluctuate so that upon redemption shares may be worth more or less than their original cost It is not possible to in983158est directly in an index
Tis report was prepared by Merk In983158estments LLC and reflects the current opinion o the authors It is based upon sources and data
believed to be accurate and reliable Merk In983158estments LLC makes no representation regarding the advisability o in983158esting in the products
herein Opinions and orward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice Tis inormation does not constitute
in983158estment advice and is not intended as an endorsement o any specific in983158estment Te inormation contained herein is general in nature
and is pro983158ided solely or educational and inormational purposes Te inormation pro983158ided does not constitute legal financial or tax
advice You should obtain advice specific to your circumstances fom your own legal financial and tax advisors As with any in983158estment
past perormance is no guarantee o uture perormance
Explicit permission must be obtained from Merk Investments LLC in order to replicate copy distribute or quote from this
document or any portion thereof
Published by Merk Investments LLC March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
7 March 2014
For more inormation please contact us
(866) 637-5386
wwwmerkinvestmentscom
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLCreg
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 37
100 allocation to
Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
800
850
900
950
1000
1050
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
July 31 1971 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury billData Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-
3
would yield the Optimal Portolio or the
same time rame Tese findings suggest
that given a choice between investing in
the SampP 500 and gold an investor would
have had the best risk-adjusted returns
investing 68 in gold and 32 in theSampP 500 Allocating more to equities
might have yielded higher returns but
the volatility o returns would have been
substantially higher
Does this mean an investor should have
more than hal o their investable assets in
gold No among other reasons because
We donrsquot know what returns gold andbull
the SampP 500 will provide going orward
Te investment universe is comprisedbull
o more than the SampP 500 and gold
One possible conclusion is that adding anyuncorrelated asset to the SampP 500 may
improve an overall portolio But the data
also suggests that i onersquos outlook or gold
or the SampP 500 is different rom what it
has been in the past ten years the ldquooptimal
portoliordquo may look different For a longer
time period please see Figures 4 and 5
Te 30+ Year View
Going back to August 1971 the optimal
gold allocation drops rom 68 to 29
Mind you this includes the run-up in
1980 as well as the subsequent 20-year
bear market in gold that ollowed Itrsquos likely
there arenrsquot many investors that piled up
on gold and the SampP back in 1971 then
March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
ldquoAdding a goldallocation to stock
portfolio improved itsrisk-adjusted returnrdquo
never rebalanced their portolio Still the
takeaway should be that diversification
with uncorrelated assets matter as it is
possible to substantially lower the volatility
o a portolio by adding an uncorrelated
asset Tat applies despite the act that
gold was more volatile than the SampP 500
Figure 4 Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold Since 1971
Figure 5 Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold Since 1971
Gold Allocation29
SampP 500 Allocation71
Annualized Return 853 1029
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
2023 1540
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
017 034039
$amp () +-(0( 12 3-(0( 45-36(
Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
989
1243
Gold vs SampP 500 since 1971
789 lt =gt (A Blt $amp
ldquoDiversication withuncorrelated assetsmatters as it is possibleto substantially lowerthe volatility of a
portfolio by adding anuncorrelated assetrdquo
since 1971 (different rom the risk profile
over the most recent 5 year period where
gold was less volatile than the SampP 500)
Now letrsquos go back 80 years please look at
Figures 6 and 7 (next page)
Allocating 41 to gold since 1934 would
have according to the theory providedthe ldquooptimalrdquo risk adjusted return by
sacrificing just a little in return the overal
volatility o the portolio could have
been substantially lowered A couple o
caveats
Tere were restrictions on own goldbull
ownership or US persons rom 1933 ndash
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 474 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
Figure 6 Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold since 1934
100 allocation to Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
December 31 1933 - February 28 2014
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Gold Allocation41
SampP 500 Allocation59
Annualized Return 502 1055
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
1538 1582
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
009 044
Gold vs SampP 500 since 1934
amp amp( ) + - amp
983
1139
055
Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
0 amp 123 456789587 8 lt5678958 =gt6lt
Figure 7 Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold since 1934
1974 the rules were amended over the
years effectively starting in 1964 US
persons were able to at least invest in gold
certificates
Until 1971 the price o gold was notbull
ree floating the model as a result gives
the appearance that gold was less risky
(ie the dollar price less volatile) than it
might have been in a ree market We are
talking about hidden risks here not well
captured when using historical standard
deviation o returns although the risk
was ultimately more to the US dollar that
plunged relative to gold once the yellow
metal was cut loose in 1971
Te above chart shows that the Opti-bull
mal Portolio is not at the tip o the curve
to understand why look back at Figure 1
to find the best risk-adjusted return the
portolio with the highest sharpe ratio it
is in the context o a benchmark risk-ree
return Since 1934 the average ldquorisk reerdquo
rate over the past 80 years was 367 Itrsquos
air to question using the same average
risk-ree rate or all those years
By using December 31 1933 as thebull
starting point we are putting gold at a
competitive disadvantage as the market
had plunged relative to the heights seen
beore the 1929 stock market crash At the
end o 2013 a Wall Street Journal article
reerenced the long-term annual return o
the SampP 500 as 55 since 1927 Alter-
natively we observed almost double the
amount at 1055 Aside rom the 1929
crash (rom which there was a partial re-covery by the end o 1933) the difference
is explained by the act that the returns
stated by the Wall Street Journal exclude
the reinvestment o dividends
Gold in a Balanced ldquo6040rdquo Portfolio
With this context provided letrsquos look
again at the past 10 years but this time
adding bonds into the mix We assume a
static 6040 ratio o stocks to bonds ofen
reerred to as a Balanced Portolio then
add the ldquooptimalrdquo amount o gold to the
mix ndash again using hindsight take a look at
Figures 8 and 9 (next page)
Unlike the first example that suggested a
68 allocation to gold when combined
with stocks a 42 allocation to gold
added to a Balanced Portolio would have
yielded the Optimal Portolio Here gold
outperorms the balanced portolio by
a tad yet one can lower the overall risk
profile o a balanced portolio by adding
a gold component
Clearly past returns are no proo o uture
results Will the seemingly meteoric rise o
stocks continue Have we reached a peak
in bonds In act over the past 5 years
ldquoOne can lower theoverall risk prole ofa balanced portfolio
by adding a goldcomponent rdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 57
Real estatebull
Commodities including goldbull
Currencies (directional) such as abull
managed basket o currencies
Currencies (non-directional) such asbull
an absolute return ldquolongshortrdquo strategy Managed uturesbull
Hedge undsbull
What Correlation
o find an Optimal Portolio itrsquos
important to understand how the
underlying securities in the portolio
interact with one another But thatrsquos not so
trivial as correlations across securities and
asset classes are not stable o illustrate the
point most have heard that the US dolla
benefits rom a ldquoflight to saetyrdquo Tat mayhave been the case or a little over two
years up to the summer o 2012 but ever
since then the ldquorisk onrdquo ldquorisk off rdquo trade
became more complicated
Or to quote another example when
money fled emerging market local debt
where investors thought they could have a
ree lunch picking up yield with little risk
such money didnrsquot go into the US dollar
but started to chase yields in government
bonds o weaker Eurozone countries
Or take gold there are periods it moves
in tandem with the stock market others
where it moves in the opposite direction
Indeed there are periods when gold has
been a hedge against a alling stock market
Gold Allocation42
Balanced 6040Portfolio 58
Annualized Return 1284 672
Annualized Risk(Standard Devaiation of Returns)
2005 1192
Sharpe Ratio(highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
057 044
Gold vs Balanced 6040 Portfolio - 10 Years
amp (() amp (+) Optimal Portfolio
074
(+) - 012345143 674 81234514 928
Gold100
Balanced 6040 Portfolio100
987
1135
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
5 March 2014
Figure 8 10-Year Efficient Frontier of Balanced Portfolio and Gold
Figure 9 10-Year Optimal Balanced Portfolio and Gold
100 allocation to
6040 Portfolio
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Gold and Balanced 6040 Portfolio
February 28 2004 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Bonds Barclays US Agg Total Return Value Index
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable
bonds came out way ahead as the volatilityin bonds was abnormally low this changed
as o the ldquotaper talkrdquo in early 2013 And
even i one likes the value proposition o
gold itrsquos only prudent to take into account
that gold price is volatile and its significant
price decline o -28 experienced in 2013
may repeat itsel rom time to time (As
o the writing this paper in March 2014
gold has rebounded by +12 in the first
10 weeks o the year) I one extrapolatedrom the recent negative returns o gold
the ldquooptimal portoliordquo may well suggest
a 0 allocation to gold assuming other
asset classes yield positive returns
What are the Other Alternatives
Most investors donrsquot allocate 30+ o their
portolios to gold neither can we make
such an investment recommendation But
as limited as the analysis here is we should
really be asking the opposite question
is it sensible or investors to have up to
70 possibly more o their portolio in
stocks Tis exercise shows that adding
investments with low correlation to stocks
may improve a portolio by enhancing itsrisk-adjusted return
Aside rom including international stocks
and bonds other candidates to consider
or inclusion in an investment portolio
are
ldquoAdding investmentswith low correlation tostocks may improve a
portfolio by enhancingits risk-adjustedreturnrdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 676 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
2 An investor cannot invest directly in an index Alternative investments are represented by the ollowing indicesGold is represented by the Gold Spot price (USD per roy Ounce)bull
Currency Directional is represented by the Inverse US Dollar (Inv DXY) Index a measure o the inverse value o the United States dollar relative to a basket o oreign curren-bull
cies including EUR JPY GBP CAD CHF and SEKCurrency Non-Directional is represented by the Deutsche Bank Currency Returns Index - USD (DBCRUSI Index) Tis index captures the long term systematic returns bybull
systematically replicating the three strategies most widely employed in the FX market (Carry rade Momentum and Valuation)Real Estate is represented by the FSE NAREI US ALL REIs Index Tis index spans the commercial real estate space across the US economy It provides exposure to allbull
investment and property sectorsCommodities is represented by the DB Liquid Commodity Index Tis index serves as a liquid and diversified benchmark or commodities asset classbull
Managed Futures is represented by the Morningstaruml Diversified Futures Index (DFI) It provides a benchmark or exposure to global markets through exchange listed utures-bull
contracts in commodities currencies and equitiesHedge Funds is represented by the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is the global industry standard or perormance measurement across all aspects o the hedge und industrybull
International Equities are represented by the MSCI EAFE Index Tis index measures the equity perormance o developed markets outside o the US and Canadabull
Correlation of Equities and Bonds versus Alternative Investments and International Equities
GoldCurrency
DirectionalCurrency Non-
DirectionalReal Estate Commodities
ManagedFutures
HedgeFunds
InternationalEquities
US Equities 007 015 024 080 031 -016 058 050
US Bonds 012 -014 011 -017 -014 002 -013 -011
Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Period 02282004 - 02282014
Figure 10 Correlation of Alternative In983158estments
the result is unbiased simply because you
let a computer generate results Indeed
one o the biggest challenges in presenting
Optimal Portolios is that they are heavily
influenced by the underlying assumptions
Someone can show you that a given
investment would have made a antastic
addition to your portolio but you may
want to look more closely whether theassumptions are realistic going orward
What Risk
Just as returns play a role so does risk In
finance a lot o investors employ standard
deviation o returns as a measure o risk
Yet many investors are just fine with
ldquoupside riskrdquo but do have a problem with
ldquodownside riskrdquo (therersquos a measure or
that the Sortino Ratio) Maybe just as
relevant these models are not very good
at capturing high risk low probability
events also called market crashes In other
words an optimization analysis that uses
historical returns may understate risk i
the time period used does not capture a
market crash in that given asset Further
many measures o risk are relative to a
benchmark ldquorisk reerdquo rate but in todayrsquos
world one might argue that therersquos no
such thing as a risk ree investment in an
environment with negative real interest
rates placing onersquos purchasing power is at
risk no matter what one does
Optimal Portfolio Really
Te takeaway rom this exercise may
be to look at alternatives in general as asupplement to a traditional equity and
bond portolio Investors may want to
take a pro-active approach to learn how to
add value to a portolio keeping an open
mind about the risks and opportunities
out there especially afer the run-up the
stock market has had
o invest profitably it may be more about
developing a robust investment process
rather than plugging in make believe
numbers into a model We will publish
more analyses on how to diversiy in
times like these Please subscribe to Merk
Insights and ollow us on witter to be
inormed as we publish more analyses
on how to diversiy in times like these
Finally please read our gold white papers
amp reports
but itrsquos not always inversely correlated with
the stock market Gold may also thrive in
a rising interest rate environment as it did
in the late 1970s
Figure 10 shows a selection o otheralternative investments2 and how they
correlate to both equities and bonds
Note that in recent years international
equities have had a comparatively high
correlation to the SampP 500 We have been
arguing or some time that investors in
international stocks may have primarily
been receiving additional return through
commensurately higher risk rather than
improving the overall returnrisk profile o
their portolios As a result we encourage
investors to consider truer orms o
diversification noting that currency
strategies may provide particularly low
correlation to US stocks and bonds Gold
is a well-known way to diversiy out o the
US dollar however there may be other
opportunities worth exploring urther
What Return
Te theory works best when we plug in
ldquoexpectedrdquo returns Wouldnrsquot it be great i
we knew tomorrowrsquos return In practice
many investors use historical returns As
you might imagine these models heavily
avors assets that had a good return during
the given look-back period ndash so donrsquot think
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 77
To Learn about the potential portfolio benets of adding gold to your investment portfolio please sign up to our newsletter Merk Insights at
wwwmerkinvestmentscomnewsletter
About the Authors
Axel Merk is the President and CIO o Merk Investments manager o the Merk Funds An authority on gold and other hard
currencies he is a pioneer in the use o strategic currency investing to seek diversification Axel Merk is a sought afer speake
and author on topics ranging rom the economy gold and currencies to sustainable wealth and personal finance as well as a
regular guest and contributor to the business media around the world
Perormance data quoted represents past perormance Past perormance is no guarantee o uture results Due to market 983158olatility curren
perormance may be less or higher than the figures shown In983158estment return and principal value will fluctuate so that upon redemption shares may be worth more or less than their original cost It is not possible to in983158est directly in an index
Tis report was prepared by Merk In983158estments LLC and reflects the current opinion o the authors It is based upon sources and data
believed to be accurate and reliable Merk In983158estments LLC makes no representation regarding the advisability o in983158esting in the products
herein Opinions and orward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice Tis inormation does not constitute
in983158estment advice and is not intended as an endorsement o any specific in983158estment Te inormation contained herein is general in nature
and is pro983158ided solely or educational and inormational purposes Te inormation pro983158ided does not constitute legal financial or tax
advice You should obtain advice specific to your circumstances fom your own legal financial and tax advisors As with any in983158estment
past perormance is no guarantee o uture perormance
Explicit permission must be obtained from Merk Investments LLC in order to replicate copy distribute or quote from this
document or any portion thereof
Published by Merk Investments LLC March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
7 March 2014
For more inormation please contact us
(866) 637-5386
wwwmerkinvestmentscom
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLCreg
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 474 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
Figure 6 Efficient Frontier of Stocks and Gold since 1934
100 allocation to Stocks
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Stocks and Gold
December 31 1933 - February 28 2014
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Gold Allocation41
SampP 500 Allocation59
Annualized Return 502 1055
Annualized Risk(Standard Deviation of Returns)
1538 1582
Sharpe Ratio(Highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
009 044
Gold vs SampP 500 since 1934
amp amp( ) + - amp
983
1139
055
Optimal Portfolio
Gold100
SampP 500100
0 amp 123 456789587 8 lt5678958 =gt6lt
Figure 7 Optimal Portfolio of Stocks and Gold since 1934
1974 the rules were amended over the
years effectively starting in 1964 US
persons were able to at least invest in gold
certificates
Until 1971 the price o gold was notbull
ree floating the model as a result gives
the appearance that gold was less risky
(ie the dollar price less volatile) than it
might have been in a ree market We are
talking about hidden risks here not well
captured when using historical standard
deviation o returns although the risk
was ultimately more to the US dollar that
plunged relative to gold once the yellow
metal was cut loose in 1971
Te above chart shows that the Opti-bull
mal Portolio is not at the tip o the curve
to understand why look back at Figure 1
to find the best risk-adjusted return the
portolio with the highest sharpe ratio it
is in the context o a benchmark risk-ree
return Since 1934 the average ldquorisk reerdquo
rate over the past 80 years was 367 Itrsquos
air to question using the same average
risk-ree rate or all those years
By using December 31 1933 as thebull
starting point we are putting gold at a
competitive disadvantage as the market
had plunged relative to the heights seen
beore the 1929 stock market crash At the
end o 2013 a Wall Street Journal article
reerenced the long-term annual return o
the SampP 500 as 55 since 1927 Alter-
natively we observed almost double the
amount at 1055 Aside rom the 1929
crash (rom which there was a partial re-covery by the end o 1933) the difference
is explained by the act that the returns
stated by the Wall Street Journal exclude
the reinvestment o dividends
Gold in a Balanced ldquo6040rdquo Portfolio
With this context provided letrsquos look
again at the past 10 years but this time
adding bonds into the mix We assume a
static 6040 ratio o stocks to bonds ofen
reerred to as a Balanced Portolio then
add the ldquooptimalrdquo amount o gold to the
mix ndash again using hindsight take a look at
Figures 8 and 9 (next page)
Unlike the first example that suggested a
68 allocation to gold when combined
with stocks a 42 allocation to gold
added to a Balanced Portolio would have
yielded the Optimal Portolio Here gold
outperorms the balanced portolio by
a tad yet one can lower the overall risk
profile o a balanced portolio by adding
a gold component
Clearly past returns are no proo o uture
results Will the seemingly meteoric rise o
stocks continue Have we reached a peak
in bonds In act over the past 5 years
ldquoOne can lower theoverall risk prole ofa balanced portfolio
by adding a goldcomponent rdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 57
Real estatebull
Commodities including goldbull
Currencies (directional) such as abull
managed basket o currencies
Currencies (non-directional) such asbull
an absolute return ldquolongshortrdquo strategy Managed uturesbull
Hedge undsbull
What Correlation
o find an Optimal Portolio itrsquos
important to understand how the
underlying securities in the portolio
interact with one another But thatrsquos not so
trivial as correlations across securities and
asset classes are not stable o illustrate the
point most have heard that the US dolla
benefits rom a ldquoflight to saetyrdquo Tat mayhave been the case or a little over two
years up to the summer o 2012 but ever
since then the ldquorisk onrdquo ldquorisk off rdquo trade
became more complicated
Or to quote another example when
money fled emerging market local debt
where investors thought they could have a
ree lunch picking up yield with little risk
such money didnrsquot go into the US dollar
but started to chase yields in government
bonds o weaker Eurozone countries
Or take gold there are periods it moves
in tandem with the stock market others
where it moves in the opposite direction
Indeed there are periods when gold has
been a hedge against a alling stock market
Gold Allocation42
Balanced 6040Portfolio 58
Annualized Return 1284 672
Annualized Risk(Standard Devaiation of Returns)
2005 1192
Sharpe Ratio(highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
057 044
Gold vs Balanced 6040 Portfolio - 10 Years
amp (() amp (+) Optimal Portfolio
074
(+) - 012345143 674 81234514 928
Gold100
Balanced 6040 Portfolio100
987
1135
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
5 March 2014
Figure 8 10-Year Efficient Frontier of Balanced Portfolio and Gold
Figure 9 10-Year Optimal Balanced Portfolio and Gold
100 allocation to
6040 Portfolio
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Gold and Balanced 6040 Portfolio
February 28 2004 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Bonds Barclays US Agg Total Return Value Index
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable
bonds came out way ahead as the volatilityin bonds was abnormally low this changed
as o the ldquotaper talkrdquo in early 2013 And
even i one likes the value proposition o
gold itrsquos only prudent to take into account
that gold price is volatile and its significant
price decline o -28 experienced in 2013
may repeat itsel rom time to time (As
o the writing this paper in March 2014
gold has rebounded by +12 in the first
10 weeks o the year) I one extrapolatedrom the recent negative returns o gold
the ldquooptimal portoliordquo may well suggest
a 0 allocation to gold assuming other
asset classes yield positive returns
What are the Other Alternatives
Most investors donrsquot allocate 30+ o their
portolios to gold neither can we make
such an investment recommendation But
as limited as the analysis here is we should
really be asking the opposite question
is it sensible or investors to have up to
70 possibly more o their portolio in
stocks Tis exercise shows that adding
investments with low correlation to stocks
may improve a portolio by enhancing itsrisk-adjusted return
Aside rom including international stocks
and bonds other candidates to consider
or inclusion in an investment portolio
are
ldquoAdding investmentswith low correlation tostocks may improve a
portfolio by enhancingits risk-adjustedreturnrdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 676 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
2 An investor cannot invest directly in an index Alternative investments are represented by the ollowing indicesGold is represented by the Gold Spot price (USD per roy Ounce)bull
Currency Directional is represented by the Inverse US Dollar (Inv DXY) Index a measure o the inverse value o the United States dollar relative to a basket o oreign curren-bull
cies including EUR JPY GBP CAD CHF and SEKCurrency Non-Directional is represented by the Deutsche Bank Currency Returns Index - USD (DBCRUSI Index) Tis index captures the long term systematic returns bybull
systematically replicating the three strategies most widely employed in the FX market (Carry rade Momentum and Valuation)Real Estate is represented by the FSE NAREI US ALL REIs Index Tis index spans the commercial real estate space across the US economy It provides exposure to allbull
investment and property sectorsCommodities is represented by the DB Liquid Commodity Index Tis index serves as a liquid and diversified benchmark or commodities asset classbull
Managed Futures is represented by the Morningstaruml Diversified Futures Index (DFI) It provides a benchmark or exposure to global markets through exchange listed utures-bull
contracts in commodities currencies and equitiesHedge Funds is represented by the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is the global industry standard or perormance measurement across all aspects o the hedge und industrybull
International Equities are represented by the MSCI EAFE Index Tis index measures the equity perormance o developed markets outside o the US and Canadabull
Correlation of Equities and Bonds versus Alternative Investments and International Equities
GoldCurrency
DirectionalCurrency Non-
DirectionalReal Estate Commodities
ManagedFutures
HedgeFunds
InternationalEquities
US Equities 007 015 024 080 031 -016 058 050
US Bonds 012 -014 011 -017 -014 002 -013 -011
Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Period 02282004 - 02282014
Figure 10 Correlation of Alternative In983158estments
the result is unbiased simply because you
let a computer generate results Indeed
one o the biggest challenges in presenting
Optimal Portolios is that they are heavily
influenced by the underlying assumptions
Someone can show you that a given
investment would have made a antastic
addition to your portolio but you may
want to look more closely whether theassumptions are realistic going orward
What Risk
Just as returns play a role so does risk In
finance a lot o investors employ standard
deviation o returns as a measure o risk
Yet many investors are just fine with
ldquoupside riskrdquo but do have a problem with
ldquodownside riskrdquo (therersquos a measure or
that the Sortino Ratio) Maybe just as
relevant these models are not very good
at capturing high risk low probability
events also called market crashes In other
words an optimization analysis that uses
historical returns may understate risk i
the time period used does not capture a
market crash in that given asset Further
many measures o risk are relative to a
benchmark ldquorisk reerdquo rate but in todayrsquos
world one might argue that therersquos no
such thing as a risk ree investment in an
environment with negative real interest
rates placing onersquos purchasing power is at
risk no matter what one does
Optimal Portfolio Really
Te takeaway rom this exercise may
be to look at alternatives in general as asupplement to a traditional equity and
bond portolio Investors may want to
take a pro-active approach to learn how to
add value to a portolio keeping an open
mind about the risks and opportunities
out there especially afer the run-up the
stock market has had
o invest profitably it may be more about
developing a robust investment process
rather than plugging in make believe
numbers into a model We will publish
more analyses on how to diversiy in
times like these Please subscribe to Merk
Insights and ollow us on witter to be
inormed as we publish more analyses
on how to diversiy in times like these
Finally please read our gold white papers
amp reports
but itrsquos not always inversely correlated with
the stock market Gold may also thrive in
a rising interest rate environment as it did
in the late 1970s
Figure 10 shows a selection o otheralternative investments2 and how they
correlate to both equities and bonds
Note that in recent years international
equities have had a comparatively high
correlation to the SampP 500 We have been
arguing or some time that investors in
international stocks may have primarily
been receiving additional return through
commensurately higher risk rather than
improving the overall returnrisk profile o
their portolios As a result we encourage
investors to consider truer orms o
diversification noting that currency
strategies may provide particularly low
correlation to US stocks and bonds Gold
is a well-known way to diversiy out o the
US dollar however there may be other
opportunities worth exploring urther
What Return
Te theory works best when we plug in
ldquoexpectedrdquo returns Wouldnrsquot it be great i
we knew tomorrowrsquos return In practice
many investors use historical returns As
you might imagine these models heavily
avors assets that had a good return during
the given look-back period ndash so donrsquot think
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 77
To Learn about the potential portfolio benets of adding gold to your investment portfolio please sign up to our newsletter Merk Insights at
wwwmerkinvestmentscomnewsletter
About the Authors
Axel Merk is the President and CIO o Merk Investments manager o the Merk Funds An authority on gold and other hard
currencies he is a pioneer in the use o strategic currency investing to seek diversification Axel Merk is a sought afer speake
and author on topics ranging rom the economy gold and currencies to sustainable wealth and personal finance as well as a
regular guest and contributor to the business media around the world
Perormance data quoted represents past perormance Past perormance is no guarantee o uture results Due to market 983158olatility curren
perormance may be less or higher than the figures shown In983158estment return and principal value will fluctuate so that upon redemption shares may be worth more or less than their original cost It is not possible to in983158est directly in an index
Tis report was prepared by Merk In983158estments LLC and reflects the current opinion o the authors It is based upon sources and data
believed to be accurate and reliable Merk In983158estments LLC makes no representation regarding the advisability o in983158esting in the products
herein Opinions and orward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice Tis inormation does not constitute
in983158estment advice and is not intended as an endorsement o any specific in983158estment Te inormation contained herein is general in nature
and is pro983158ided solely or educational and inormational purposes Te inormation pro983158ided does not constitute legal financial or tax
advice You should obtain advice specific to your circumstances fom your own legal financial and tax advisors As with any in983158estment
past perormance is no guarantee o uture perormance
Explicit permission must be obtained from Merk Investments LLC in order to replicate copy distribute or quote from this
document or any portion thereof
Published by Merk Investments LLC March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
7 March 2014
For more inormation please contact us
(866) 637-5386
wwwmerkinvestmentscom
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLCreg
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 57
Real estatebull
Commodities including goldbull
Currencies (directional) such as abull
managed basket o currencies
Currencies (non-directional) such asbull
an absolute return ldquolongshortrdquo strategy Managed uturesbull
Hedge undsbull
What Correlation
o find an Optimal Portolio itrsquos
important to understand how the
underlying securities in the portolio
interact with one another But thatrsquos not so
trivial as correlations across securities and
asset classes are not stable o illustrate the
point most have heard that the US dolla
benefits rom a ldquoflight to saetyrdquo Tat mayhave been the case or a little over two
years up to the summer o 2012 but ever
since then the ldquorisk onrdquo ldquorisk off rdquo trade
became more complicated
Or to quote another example when
money fled emerging market local debt
where investors thought they could have a
ree lunch picking up yield with little risk
such money didnrsquot go into the US dollar
but started to chase yields in government
bonds o weaker Eurozone countries
Or take gold there are periods it moves
in tandem with the stock market others
where it moves in the opposite direction
Indeed there are periods when gold has
been a hedge against a alling stock market
Gold Allocation42
Balanced 6040Portfolio 58
Annualized Return 1284 672
Annualized Risk(Standard Devaiation of Returns)
2005 1192
Sharpe Ratio(highest Ratio is Optimal Portfolio)
057 044
Gold vs Balanced 6040 Portfolio - 10 Years
amp (() amp (+) Optimal Portfolio
074
(+) - 012345143 674 81234514 928
Gold100
Balanced 6040 Portfolio100
987
1135
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
5 March 2014
Figure 8 10-Year Efficient Frontier of Balanced Portfolio and Gold
Figure 9 10-Year Optimal Balanced Portfolio and Gold
100 allocation to
6040 Portfolio
100 allocation to
Gold
Optimal Portfolio
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
A n n u a l i z e d r e t u r n
Annualized standard deviation
Efficient Frontier Gold and Balanced 6040 Portfolio
February 28 2004 - February 28 2014
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLC
Equities SampP 500 Total Return Gold Spot Gold (XAU Curncy) Risk-Free Rate 3 Month Treasury bill
Bonds Barclays US Agg Total Return Value Index
Data Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Federal Reserve httpwwwmultplcoms-p-500-dividend-yieldtable
bonds came out way ahead as the volatilityin bonds was abnormally low this changed
as o the ldquotaper talkrdquo in early 2013 And
even i one likes the value proposition o
gold itrsquos only prudent to take into account
that gold price is volatile and its significant
price decline o -28 experienced in 2013
may repeat itsel rom time to time (As
o the writing this paper in March 2014
gold has rebounded by +12 in the first
10 weeks o the year) I one extrapolatedrom the recent negative returns o gold
the ldquooptimal portoliordquo may well suggest
a 0 allocation to gold assuming other
asset classes yield positive returns
What are the Other Alternatives
Most investors donrsquot allocate 30+ o their
portolios to gold neither can we make
such an investment recommendation But
as limited as the analysis here is we should
really be asking the opposite question
is it sensible or investors to have up to
70 possibly more o their portolio in
stocks Tis exercise shows that adding
investments with low correlation to stocks
may improve a portolio by enhancing itsrisk-adjusted return
Aside rom including international stocks
and bonds other candidates to consider
or inclusion in an investment portolio
are
ldquoAdding investmentswith low correlation tostocks may improve a
portfolio by enhancingits risk-adjustedreturnrdquo
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 676 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
2 An investor cannot invest directly in an index Alternative investments are represented by the ollowing indicesGold is represented by the Gold Spot price (USD per roy Ounce)bull
Currency Directional is represented by the Inverse US Dollar (Inv DXY) Index a measure o the inverse value o the United States dollar relative to a basket o oreign curren-bull
cies including EUR JPY GBP CAD CHF and SEKCurrency Non-Directional is represented by the Deutsche Bank Currency Returns Index - USD (DBCRUSI Index) Tis index captures the long term systematic returns bybull
systematically replicating the three strategies most widely employed in the FX market (Carry rade Momentum and Valuation)Real Estate is represented by the FSE NAREI US ALL REIs Index Tis index spans the commercial real estate space across the US economy It provides exposure to allbull
investment and property sectorsCommodities is represented by the DB Liquid Commodity Index Tis index serves as a liquid and diversified benchmark or commodities asset classbull
Managed Futures is represented by the Morningstaruml Diversified Futures Index (DFI) It provides a benchmark or exposure to global markets through exchange listed utures-bull
contracts in commodities currencies and equitiesHedge Funds is represented by the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is the global industry standard or perormance measurement across all aspects o the hedge und industrybull
International Equities are represented by the MSCI EAFE Index Tis index measures the equity perormance o developed markets outside o the US and Canadabull
Correlation of Equities and Bonds versus Alternative Investments and International Equities
GoldCurrency
DirectionalCurrency Non-
DirectionalReal Estate Commodities
ManagedFutures
HedgeFunds
InternationalEquities
US Equities 007 015 024 080 031 -016 058 050
US Bonds 012 -014 011 -017 -014 002 -013 -011
Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Period 02282004 - 02282014
Figure 10 Correlation of Alternative In983158estments
the result is unbiased simply because you
let a computer generate results Indeed
one o the biggest challenges in presenting
Optimal Portolios is that they are heavily
influenced by the underlying assumptions
Someone can show you that a given
investment would have made a antastic
addition to your portolio but you may
want to look more closely whether theassumptions are realistic going orward
What Risk
Just as returns play a role so does risk In
finance a lot o investors employ standard
deviation o returns as a measure o risk
Yet many investors are just fine with
ldquoupside riskrdquo but do have a problem with
ldquodownside riskrdquo (therersquos a measure or
that the Sortino Ratio) Maybe just as
relevant these models are not very good
at capturing high risk low probability
events also called market crashes In other
words an optimization analysis that uses
historical returns may understate risk i
the time period used does not capture a
market crash in that given asset Further
many measures o risk are relative to a
benchmark ldquorisk reerdquo rate but in todayrsquos
world one might argue that therersquos no
such thing as a risk ree investment in an
environment with negative real interest
rates placing onersquos purchasing power is at
risk no matter what one does
Optimal Portfolio Really
Te takeaway rom this exercise may
be to look at alternatives in general as asupplement to a traditional equity and
bond portolio Investors may want to
take a pro-active approach to learn how to
add value to a portolio keeping an open
mind about the risks and opportunities
out there especially afer the run-up the
stock market has had
o invest profitably it may be more about
developing a robust investment process
rather than plugging in make believe
numbers into a model We will publish
more analyses on how to diversiy in
times like these Please subscribe to Merk
Insights and ollow us on witter to be
inormed as we publish more analyses
on how to diversiy in times like these
Finally please read our gold white papers
amp reports
but itrsquos not always inversely correlated with
the stock market Gold may also thrive in
a rising interest rate environment as it did
in the late 1970s
Figure 10 shows a selection o otheralternative investments2 and how they
correlate to both equities and bonds
Note that in recent years international
equities have had a comparatively high
correlation to the SampP 500 We have been
arguing or some time that investors in
international stocks may have primarily
been receiving additional return through
commensurately higher risk rather than
improving the overall returnrisk profile o
their portolios As a result we encourage
investors to consider truer orms o
diversification noting that currency
strategies may provide particularly low
correlation to US stocks and bonds Gold
is a well-known way to diversiy out o the
US dollar however there may be other
opportunities worth exploring urther
What Return
Te theory works best when we plug in
ldquoexpectedrdquo returns Wouldnrsquot it be great i
we knew tomorrowrsquos return In practice
many investors use historical returns As
you might imagine these models heavily
avors assets that had a good return during
the given look-back period ndash so donrsquot think
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 77
To Learn about the potential portfolio benets of adding gold to your investment portfolio please sign up to our newsletter Merk Insights at
wwwmerkinvestmentscomnewsletter
About the Authors
Axel Merk is the President and CIO o Merk Investments manager o the Merk Funds An authority on gold and other hard
currencies he is a pioneer in the use o strategic currency investing to seek diversification Axel Merk is a sought afer speake
and author on topics ranging rom the economy gold and currencies to sustainable wealth and personal finance as well as a
regular guest and contributor to the business media around the world
Perormance data quoted represents past perormance Past perormance is no guarantee o uture results Due to market 983158olatility curren
perormance may be less or higher than the figures shown In983158estment return and principal value will fluctuate so that upon redemption shares may be worth more or less than their original cost It is not possible to in983158est directly in an index
Tis report was prepared by Merk In983158estments LLC and reflects the current opinion o the authors It is based upon sources and data
believed to be accurate and reliable Merk In983158estments LLC makes no representation regarding the advisability o in983158esting in the products
herein Opinions and orward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice Tis inormation does not constitute
in983158estment advice and is not intended as an endorsement o any specific in983158estment Te inormation contained herein is general in nature
and is pro983158ided solely or educational and inormational purposes Te inormation pro983158ided does not constitute legal financial or tax
advice You should obtain advice specific to your circumstances fom your own legal financial and tax advisors As with any in983158estment
past perormance is no guarantee o uture perormance
Explicit permission must be obtained from Merk Investments LLC in order to replicate copy distribute or quote from this
document or any portion thereof
Published by Merk Investments LLC March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
7 March 2014
For more inormation please contact us
(866) 637-5386
wwwmerkinvestmentscom
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLCreg
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 676 March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
2 An investor cannot invest directly in an index Alternative investments are represented by the ollowing indicesGold is represented by the Gold Spot price (USD per roy Ounce)bull
Currency Directional is represented by the Inverse US Dollar (Inv DXY) Index a measure o the inverse value o the United States dollar relative to a basket o oreign curren-bull
cies including EUR JPY GBP CAD CHF and SEKCurrency Non-Directional is represented by the Deutsche Bank Currency Returns Index - USD (DBCRUSI Index) Tis index captures the long term systematic returns bybull
systematically replicating the three strategies most widely employed in the FX market (Carry rade Momentum and Valuation)Real Estate is represented by the FSE NAREI US ALL REIs Index Tis index spans the commercial real estate space across the US economy It provides exposure to allbull
investment and property sectorsCommodities is represented by the DB Liquid Commodity Index Tis index serves as a liquid and diversified benchmark or commodities asset classbull
Managed Futures is represented by the Morningstaruml Diversified Futures Index (DFI) It provides a benchmark or exposure to global markets through exchange listed utures-bull
contracts in commodities currencies and equitiesHedge Funds is represented by the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is the global industry standard or perormance measurement across all aspects o the hedge und industrybull
International Equities are represented by the MSCI EAFE Index Tis index measures the equity perormance o developed markets outside o the US and Canadabull
Correlation of Equities and Bonds versus Alternative Investments and International Equities
GoldCurrency
DirectionalCurrency Non-
DirectionalReal Estate Commodities
ManagedFutures
HedgeFunds
InternationalEquities
US Equities 007 015 024 080 031 -016 058 050
US Bonds 012 -014 011 -017 -014 002 -013 -011
Source Merk Investments Bloomberg Period 02282004 - 02282014
Figure 10 Correlation of Alternative In983158estments
the result is unbiased simply because you
let a computer generate results Indeed
one o the biggest challenges in presenting
Optimal Portolios is that they are heavily
influenced by the underlying assumptions
Someone can show you that a given
investment would have made a antastic
addition to your portolio but you may
want to look more closely whether theassumptions are realistic going orward
What Risk
Just as returns play a role so does risk In
finance a lot o investors employ standard
deviation o returns as a measure o risk
Yet many investors are just fine with
ldquoupside riskrdquo but do have a problem with
ldquodownside riskrdquo (therersquos a measure or
that the Sortino Ratio) Maybe just as
relevant these models are not very good
at capturing high risk low probability
events also called market crashes In other
words an optimization analysis that uses
historical returns may understate risk i
the time period used does not capture a
market crash in that given asset Further
many measures o risk are relative to a
benchmark ldquorisk reerdquo rate but in todayrsquos
world one might argue that therersquos no
such thing as a risk ree investment in an
environment with negative real interest
rates placing onersquos purchasing power is at
risk no matter what one does
Optimal Portfolio Really
Te takeaway rom this exercise may
be to look at alternatives in general as asupplement to a traditional equity and
bond portolio Investors may want to
take a pro-active approach to learn how to
add value to a portolio keeping an open
mind about the risks and opportunities
out there especially afer the run-up the
stock market has had
o invest profitably it may be more about
developing a robust investment process
rather than plugging in make believe
numbers into a model We will publish
more analyses on how to diversiy in
times like these Please subscribe to Merk
Insights and ollow us on witter to be
inormed as we publish more analyses
on how to diversiy in times like these
Finally please read our gold white papers
amp reports
but itrsquos not always inversely correlated with
the stock market Gold may also thrive in
a rising interest rate environment as it did
in the late 1970s
Figure 10 shows a selection o otheralternative investments2 and how they
correlate to both equities and bonds
Note that in recent years international
equities have had a comparatively high
correlation to the SampP 500 We have been
arguing or some time that investors in
international stocks may have primarily
been receiving additional return through
commensurately higher risk rather than
improving the overall returnrisk profile o
their portolios As a result we encourage
investors to consider truer orms o
diversification noting that currency
strategies may provide particularly low
correlation to US stocks and bonds Gold
is a well-known way to diversiy out o the
US dollar however there may be other
opportunities worth exploring urther
What Return
Te theory works best when we plug in
ldquoexpectedrdquo returns Wouldnrsquot it be great i
we knew tomorrowrsquos return In practice
many investors use historical returns As
you might imagine these models heavily
avors assets that had a good return during
the given look-back period ndash so donrsquot think
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 77
To Learn about the potential portfolio benets of adding gold to your investment portfolio please sign up to our newsletter Merk Insights at
wwwmerkinvestmentscomnewsletter
About the Authors
Axel Merk is the President and CIO o Merk Investments manager o the Merk Funds An authority on gold and other hard
currencies he is a pioneer in the use o strategic currency investing to seek diversification Axel Merk is a sought afer speake
and author on topics ranging rom the economy gold and currencies to sustainable wealth and personal finance as well as a
regular guest and contributor to the business media around the world
Perormance data quoted represents past perormance Past perormance is no guarantee o uture results Due to market 983158olatility curren
perormance may be less or higher than the figures shown In983158estment return and principal value will fluctuate so that upon redemption shares may be worth more or less than their original cost It is not possible to in983158est directly in an index
Tis report was prepared by Merk In983158estments LLC and reflects the current opinion o the authors It is based upon sources and data
believed to be accurate and reliable Merk In983158estments LLC makes no representation regarding the advisability o in983158esting in the products
herein Opinions and orward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice Tis inormation does not constitute
in983158estment advice and is not intended as an endorsement o any specific in983158estment Te inormation contained herein is general in nature
and is pro983158ided solely or educational and inormational purposes Te inormation pro983158ided does not constitute legal financial or tax
advice You should obtain advice specific to your circumstances fom your own legal financial and tax advisors As with any in983158estment
past perormance is no guarantee o uture perormance
Explicit permission must be obtained from Merk Investments LLC in order to replicate copy distribute or quote from this
document or any portion thereof
Published by Merk Investments LLC March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
7 March 2014
For more inormation please contact us
(866) 637-5386
wwwmerkinvestmentscom
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLCreg
7172019 Case for Gold Optimal Portfolio Allocation
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcase-for-gold-optimal-portfolio-allocation 77
To Learn about the potential portfolio benets of adding gold to your investment portfolio please sign up to our newsletter Merk Insights at
wwwmerkinvestmentscomnewsletter
About the Authors
Axel Merk is the President and CIO o Merk Investments manager o the Merk Funds An authority on gold and other hard
currencies he is a pioneer in the use o strategic currency investing to seek diversification Axel Merk is a sought afer speake
and author on topics ranging rom the economy gold and currencies to sustainable wealth and personal finance as well as a
regular guest and contributor to the business media around the world
Perormance data quoted represents past perormance Past perormance is no guarantee o uture results Due to market 983158olatility curren
perormance may be less or higher than the figures shown In983158estment return and principal value will fluctuate so that upon redemption shares may be worth more or less than their original cost It is not possible to in983158est directly in an index
Tis report was prepared by Merk In983158estments LLC and reflects the current opinion o the authors It is based upon sources and data
believed to be accurate and reliable Merk In983158estments LLC makes no representation regarding the advisability o in983158esting in the products
herein Opinions and orward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice Tis inormation does not constitute
in983158estment advice and is not intended as an endorsement o any specific in983158estment Te inormation contained herein is general in nature
and is pro983158ided solely or educational and inormational purposes Te inormation pro983158ided does not constitute legal financial or tax
advice You should obtain advice specific to your circumstances fom your own legal financial and tax advisors As with any in983158estment
past perormance is no guarantee o uture perormance
Explicit permission must be obtained from Merk Investments LLC in order to replicate copy distribute or quote from this
document or any portion thereof
Published by Merk Investments LLC March 2014
Merk In983158estments LLC reg
7 March 2014
For more inormation please contact us
(866) 637-5386
wwwmerkinvestmentscom
copy 2014 Merk Investments LLCreg