Four funds to buy as gold tops $4,000 an ounce for the first time offer a way to ride the rise in price of the precious yellow metal.
The price of gold kept climbing to trade at $4,009.40 as I wrote this column on Tuesday evening, Oct. 7, marking a day when the coveted metal gained $129.20, or 3.33%, on the day. The four funds to buy as gold tops $4,000 an ounce offer a bit of diversification rather than just relying on the price of precious metal to rise.
The rising price of gold occurred amid growing investor interest in alternative assets that also include silver and Bitcoin as the outlook for the U.S. economy and the Fed’s recent move to cut rates are adding to the appeal of investments other than the traditional stock markets. The price of the precious metal could rise to $4,900 by late next year, according to a new forecast by investment firm Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS).
So far in 2025, gold has gained more than 50%. Gold futures’ have run-up in 2025 at a faster pace than during the pandemic and 2007-09 recession, the Wall Street Journal reported. Only during an inflationary breakout in 1979 has gold soared much higher in a single year.
Four Funds to Buy as Gold Tops $4,000 an Ounce for the First Time: Forecasts
“I don’t see an end to this move anytime soon,” wrote Jim Woods to readers of his Tactical Trader advisory service that recommends both stocks and options.
There can and likely will be pullbacks along the way, but Woods wrote we are much more likely to see the per-ounce price of gold rise to $5,000 than drop to $3,000.
Jim Woods leads Tactical Trader and Crypto and Commodities Trader.
Fast Money Alert, co-headed by Woods and Mark Skousen, PhD, turned a strong profit on a gold stock recommendation last week. The position in Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (NYSE: AEM) stopped out when it dipped after the duo boosted the stop price amid the stock’s ascent to assure subscribers of double-digit percentage gains. Their subscribers were able to achieve a 27.07% profit in just 34 days.
A rising risk of a recession also is aiding gold prices, Skousen opined. The federal government’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported second-real quarter gross output (GO) on Thursday, Sept. 25, which showed inflation-adjusted GO “lagged significantly” behind real GDP expansion, Mark Skousen, PhD, wrote to subscribers of his October 2025 Forecasts & Strategies investment newsletter.
Skousen wrote an op-ed in the Sept. 29 Wall Street Journal, titled “Beneath the GDP, a Recession Warning.” The subtitle reported, “Business spending dropped sharply in the second quarter. Blame the trade war.”
In the op-ed, Skousen noted that while consumer spending is still robust, rising 2.8% in real terms during the second quarter, business (B2B) spending fell sharply at 5.6% during the quarter, largely due to ongoing trade wars. Gross output (GO) measures spending at all stages of production, not just the final one as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Another risk is that the U.S. government ran out of money for normal operations at midnight, Sept. 30. Attempts to reach a compromise to continue funding the government have proven unsuccessful so far but it has coincided with the rise in gold prices, since the precious yellow metal is a traditional hedge amid geopolitical and other kinds of crises.
Four Funds to Buy as Gold Tops $4,000 an Ounce for the First Time:
The Forecasts & Strategies investment newsletter led by Skousen for nearly four decades is recommending SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD). The choice has jumped 143.85% since it became part of the Forecasts & Strategies’ portfolio on March 2, 2020.
GLD is a “solid way” to be exposed to increases in the price of gold, Skousen wrote to his subscribers. SPDR Gold Shares is the largest physically backed gold ETF in the world.
Ben Franklin scion Mark Skousen, who heads TNT Trader and Forecasts & Strategies, talks to Paul Dykewicz.
SPDR Gold Shares also is touted as a relatively cost efficient and secure way to access the gold market. Investors in gold ETFs do not need to worry about keeping the precious metal secure the way they do with investing directly with valuable coins.
Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.
Four Funds to Buy as Gold Tops $4,000 an Ounce for the First Time: Carlson’s Choices
The Retirement Watch investment newsletter offers a recommendation called Invest with the Winners to feature an opportunity on the ascent. The featured recommendation for the second straight month is iShares Gold Trust (IAU).
This strategy is allocated to either own an ETF or cash. Carlson uses several models to assess the performance of a diversified group of ETFs, then tries to identify which of the ETFs with strong recent returns is likely to continue that performance for at least another month.
This month, the models say to continue to hold IAU. It does not pay a dividend but still is appealing amid the run-up in gold prices.
Carlson has taken a shine to gold miners and recommended them earlier this year when they traded at solid discounts to gold. Carlson recommended an income-paying exchange-traded fund (ETF), iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners (RING), in his Retirement Watch investment newsletter.
Bob Carlson heads Retirement Watch.
Since then, mining company shares have been making up lost ground. Carlson recently wrote that he expects them to reestablish their usual relationship to gold.
RING is up 15.03% in the last four weeks, 88.65% in the past six months, 133.01% for the year to date and 101.97% over 12 months.
Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.
Four Funds to Buy as Gold Tops $4,000 an Ounce for the First Time: Connell’s Counsel
A need exists for investors to diversify with gold and bitcoin and even other cryptocurrencies, said Michelle Connell, who heads Dallas-based Portia Capital Management.
Investors should incorporate three additional risks into their portfolio allocations: the devaluation of the U.S. dollar and declining domestic interest rates and record-high valuations for U.S. equities, Connell said. Connell advised me that an allocation to gold is smart right now. She also likes exposure to cryptocurrency for up to 5% of one’s holdings for some of her Portia Capital Management clients.
Michelle Connell heads Portia Capital Management.
“Lower interest rates may lead to the continued decline of the U.S. dollar,” Connell commented. “As interest rates go down, the rate that the U.S. Treasury securities pay goes down as well. The result is a declining dollar.”
The dollar has already gone down 10% this year, Connell continued. That’s a reversal of the last 15 years when the U.S. dollar was in a bull market, she added.
“Strategists are predicting that 2026 will see a continuation of this new bear market for our currency,” Connell warned. “The above risks should lead investors to the conclusion that they need diversification.”
“Despite gold reaching an all-time high of $4,000 an ounce and doubling in price over the last year, I still believe that establishing or creating new allocations to gold and Bitcoin would be prudent,” Connell continued.
Gold mining stocks have much higher volatility and price swings as compared to physical gold, Connell counseled.
“So, it makes sense to own the commodity itself. However, most of us don’t want to find a custodian for gold bars. For individual investors, GraniteShares’ Gold Trust ETF (ARCX: BAR), would be an economical way to invest. BAR owns 100% physical gold that is custodied in a London vault. BNY Mellon is the trustee and the vault is inspected twice a year. The fee is a very low 0.1749%.”
Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.
Four Funds to Buy as Gold Tops $4,000 an Ounce for the First Time: Geopolitical Risk
Central banks worldwide have been buying gold for more than a decade, especially during the past three years. The result is that the precious yellow metal has surpassed the euro as the world’s second-largest reserve asset this year, trailing only the U.S. dollar.
The central banks bought 415 tons of gold in the first half, reported the World Gold Council. Many gold market observers expect continued central-bank purchases in 2026. Those purchases would further support or lift gold prices.
Source: World Gold Council
“I’ve told investors all year that gold belongs in portfolios, but in moderation,” said Dean Lyulkin, CEO of Cardiff, where he directs strategy, financial performance and investor relations for a portfolio that has delivered over $10 billion to U.S. small businesses.
An allocation to gold of 5-10% of one’s portfolio is the maximize that Lyulkin said he would suggest for investors. He called owning gold “insurance,” not alpha.
“The people materially changing their asset mix now aren’t hedging risk; they’re chasing heat,” Lyulkin commented. “The parallels everyone loves are with 2005–2011, when gold nearly quadrupled amid a structurally weak dollar and the shock of the global financial crisis. Back then, the greenback was in free fall for years as U.S. deficits ballooned and rates sank. That persistent dollar decline acted like rocket fuel.
“Today’s setup is milder. The dollar has cooled — down a few percent year to date — but it’s not in free fall.”
The U.S. dollar remains the reserve currency of choice, Lyulkin continued. The tailwind propelling the lift in gold prices is “real” but temporary, he added.
Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, the Journal of Commerce, Seeking Alpha, GuruFocus and other publications and websites. Paul is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free e-letters and other investment reports. Paul previously served as business editor of Baltimore’s Daily Record newspaper. Paul also is the author of an inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulDykewicz.
