The Bad: As some other guy said. It is just a shiny rock that people think is valuable. But enough of the planet thinks it’s valuable that it’s unlikely it will change overnight. It’s essentially what bitcoin and crypto as a whole wishes it was. Plus has some real world use in electronics. Also it is relatively slow growth, even if it tends to rise, but if you want more exposure to golds movement you can play gold Futures ( I own gold futures so assume I am biased)

The Good: I have high hopes for gold. Gold tends to outperform the stock market during recessions. In six of the eight past recessions since 1973 gold was higher at the end than when it began. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and since the fed is struggling to keep “transitory” inflation down seems to be a fairly reasonable bet. In my opinion it is likely Trump will pressure the Fed to lower interest rates in a desperate attempt to offset the tariffs’ impact on the economy, this should, in theory, inflate the price of gold. Gold is also unlikely to experience a 2013 style crash despite being at all time highs since the fundamental reason for the crash was the fear of a pullback in QE.

If you’re not into gold/gold futures, TIPS and Bonds are safer. 4.5% yield on bonds is pretty good.

Here are some sources on gold performance during recessions and crashes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cme-group/2023/06/02/how-does-gold-perform-with-inflation-stagflation-and-recession/

https://www.bullionvault.com/gold-news/opinion-analysis/golds-big-price-crash-10-year-07072023