When I bought physical gold for the first time in 2024, it surprised some people — including myself who used to advocate Warren Buffett’s take on gold. Gold doesn’t generate income. It doesn’t compound. It doesn’t fit neatly into the discounted cash flow models I’d spent years studying. And yet, it felt inevitable. The Wrong Lesson First My first encounter with gold came during COVID-19. Markets were crashing. Governments were printing money at unprecedented scales. I found myself asking a question I’d never seriously considered before: what actually holds value when systems are under stress? I bought gold ETFs, rode the rally, and sold for a profit. At the time, I thought I understood gold. I didn’t. I understood gold as a trading vehicle. I had no understanding of its role as portfolio insurance or store of value. That distinction took several more years — and a few formative books — to fully internalize. What Shifted My Thinking...