In the UBS Global Family Office Report 2020, there was a very clear change among asset allocations in gold and cash. As a result of “macroeconomic uncertainties, the prospect of recession” and “changes in interest rates”, 25% of family offices increased their allocations in cash, and 21% increased allocations in gold.
The reason these numbers are not even higher is because in their 2019 report, 42% of family offices already increased cash holdings and 12% increased their gold allocations as a result of anticipating a recession – they proved to be correct in this assumption. However, gold and cash still have distinct problems of their own. Firstly, cash is rapidly depreciating as a result of unprecedented expansions of money supplies across the globe. And secondly, gold’s value proposition and market share is being replaced by bitcoin. Ideally, families would be able to retain their wealth by simply saving their money and passing it down throughout generations, however, this is obviously not feasible as a result of inflation.
Gold – what happened in 2020?
Gold’s value proposition is primarily distinguished by the fact that it has been a safe haven asset against inflation. Historically, this has proven to be the case as a result of its universal recognition and scarcity compared to other metals.
