You’ve seen the headlines.

The world’s on fire.

More so than usual.

Troops are moving closer to the epicentre of the conflict, talks are about to take place in Pakistan and markets are getting shellacked.

Is this the gradual build in nerves before another market panic attack à la 2007-8 or March 2020?

Perhaps.

And yet, here I was attending a gold conference on (fittingly) the Gold Coast.

Oddly calm…

In contrast to many parts of society, the mood at the conference is calm and positive.

As the rest of the market loses its head, those with a penchant for the shiny metal aren’t too worried about gold’s fall from ~US$5500 to ~US$4500.

They hold the bullion precisely for moments in history like this.

Yes, the gold price is a bit battered after a monstrous run over the last two years:

Source: tradingcommodities.com

[Click to open in a new window]

But in spite of this micro-wobble, confidence is high on the floors of the conference hall.

Having a chat, you’ll find that the gold bugs are an odd lot.

They’re planners and think long-term.

Unfortunately, that’s strange these days.

Then I met this strange pair

Outside chatting to the two youngest attendees I could find, there’s one smoking government mandated inflation (hand rolled plain packaging tobacco).

Naturally, tobacco tax increases are mandated by legislation every year…

Anyway, I look over and the other member of this odd pair is covered head to toe in tattoos, hunched over a laptop.

Between puffs, the younger of the two explains he first got into stacking bullion after a key conversation with his uncle at the age of 13.

Under his arm?

A laptop and a 1kg bar of copper.

I remark on the copper bar, doing the numbers.

First the imperial-metric/USD-AUD conversion in my head against the number I have from last time I checked the copper spot price.

Then I think about mark-ups and physical premiums…

“What’s that? About 80 bucks?”

Spot on.

I ask, “How old are you two?”

I surmise, “I reckon your 32.”
Spot on again.

Now he and his tattooed mate are paying attention, they tell me they’ve started a bullion business in rural Queensland.

Entrepreneurs at a young age, nice!

It proves there are always some little gems hidden amongst the swathes of Gen Z nihilists the older generations constantly fret about.

A book well worth reading

Back on the conference floor, I sit at my colleague Brian Chu’s booth tapping away on my laptop, working on my next possible recommendations.

For my next recommendations…I’m thinking about energy, gold and other metals that still have room to run in this new ‘strategic’ phase of the cycle.

As war looms, the world faces even more pressure to secure the materials needed to get prices down in the “thing” economy.

High prices drive capex. Capex drives price inflation down.

And the cycle repeats.

People cycle through the booths, and plenty come up to take a look at Brian’s new book: Gold’s True Message.

I joke that “I’m not Brian Chu!” to anyone who swings by.

They usually giggle, and say, “I know that.”

Jokes offer solace when turbulent times approach.

Circles in the sand

Gold is not without its own irony – its shiny, yet the investment thesis is usually dull.

A buffer against the chaotic world.

It’s also hard to find, yet everyone seems to have a piece of gold jewellery somewhere.

It’s not particularly useful, yet it is an incredibly useful hedge when things threaten to go pear shaped.

These paradoxes are not lost on me.

Once upon a time, I studied Zen metaphysics at the University of Melbourne.

Here’s a picture of my old professor:

Source: X

The gravity of Zen is that it finds truth in what appears to be contradictory.

Earlier in the week I took a walk on the beach pondering the circularity of time with a very Zen companion.

A circle was drawn in the sand.

Then, a brief dip in the warm water, with a storm approaching.

A storm appears to be approaching for markets as well.

But some things are timeless.

Tomorrow, I’ll share the second part of my story.

It’s called Gold on the Gold Coast.

Like most aspects of anyone’s investment journey, it’s more about the internal, the emotional and the psychological.

So of course, the story is not really about gold at all.

Hopefully you enjoy it, and it helps make you a better investor.