SGOL
abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF
Mentions (24Hr)
0.00% Today
Reddit Posts
How do I turn this into 25K to pay for my grad school?
Mentions
taking earnings from puts and going deep into $SGOL $45 9/18.
1. Treasury Bond / ETF: SGOV 2. Gold / ETF: SGOL 3. S&P 500 / ETF: SPY 4. Ex-US World / ETF: VEU I would go into Treasury Bonds for now and wait till we reached the bottom with the Iran fiasco.
Ah... that's because GLD is priced at $472.50 so you'll often end up with a lot of idle spare change in your account. SGOL, in contrast, is priced at about $49 so the most spare change you could possibly end up with is a dollar less than that! Also, GLD has an ER of 0.40% compared to SGOL at 0.17%.
# Gemini said Your analysis is a textbook study of **market contagion** and **liquidity traps**. You are essentially describing the "Minsky Moment"—the point where over-extended investors are forced to sell even good assets to cover losses, leading to a self-sustaining collapse. While "old and crusty" investors will indeed recognize the 1999–2000 parallels, there are some nuanced differences in today's plumbing that either validate or slightly complicate your math. # 1. Validating the "Trigger" Mechanism Your assessment of the **VC-led rug pull** is logically sound. In venture capital, there is a phenomenon called "Flight to Quality." * **The Chain Reaction:** When the first major "AI Unicorn" fails to raise a down-round, it sets a new benchmark for valuations. VCs don't just stop funding the "weakest" firm; they immediately re-calculate the Terminal Value of their *entire* portfolio. * **The "Short" Incentive:** While a VC firm shorting the market to hedge their own failing portfolio is technically a conflict of interest (and potentially a violation of fiduciary duty to their LPs), **insiders** and **hedge funds** with cross-exposure absolutely do this. # 2. Comparing the "Burn" (2000 vs. 2026) You asked: *How long can fresh cash sustain the burn rate?* * **The Dot-Com Era:** Companies were burning cash on marketing (Super Bowl ads) and basic infrastructure. When the cash ran out, the value was zero. * **The AI Era:** Companies are burning cash on **Compute (GPUs)**. * *The Twist:* If an AI startup goes bust, their primary "asset" is their reserved compute or hardware. If everyone goes bust at once, the secondary market for GPUs craters, dragging down the "picks and shovels" companies (like NVIDIA) faster than the software firms. # 3. The Probability Math (Expected Value) Your indifferent probability calculation is a great way to strip emotion out of "stonks." EV=(Pgain×Rgain)+(Ploss×Rloss) Using your numbers: * If you need to beat a **3.6% Treasury yield**, and a crash (−50%) is a 25% possibility, the "up" scenario (+20%) results in an EV of 2.5%. * **Verdict:** You are mathematically correct to prefer Treasuries here. The "Risk Premium" (the extra return you get for taking the risk) is actually **negative** in your scenario (2.5%−3.6%=−1.1%). You aren't being paid to take the risk. # 4. Nuance: The "Big Tech" Firewall The biggest difference between now and 2000 is **Cash Flow**. * In 1999, many leaders were pre-profit. * In 2026, the "Big 7" are essentially sovereign-wealth-sized entities with massive buyback programs. **The Risk:** Even if Big Tech stays profitable, your scenario holds true because of **Multiple Compression**. If the market decides AI is a "bust," Microsoft's P/E ratio could drop from 35x to 15x, even if their earnings stay flat. That is where your −50% scenario lives. # Analysis of Your Positions * **Swiss Francs ($CHF):** A classic "flight to safety" currency. It de-correlates from the USD/Euro-centric tech collapse. * **Gold ETFs (IAU, SGOL):** If the Fed reacts to your "Scenario B" by printing money to save the banking system (again), gold is your hedge against the resulting debasement. * **Hedged Options (QQQ/IWM):** This is the smartest part of your play. By "setting a floor," you change your EV calculation because your Rloss is capped (e.g., instead of −50%, it's capped at the cost of the put premiums). # Summary Your scenario is highly plausible. The "AI Winter" usually follows an "AI Summer" not because the tech stops working, but because the **Return on Investment (ROI)** takes longer to manifest than the **Burn Rate** allows.
Riding my SGOL and SLV calls just a bit longer..
I am currently sitting on my hands and in cash and sold mostly everything last week after making a nice 4.5% in January. I am resisting the urge to buy back in until things settle more this week. The only positions I am holding are VDE, SCHD, and SMH as SMH is the hardware for AI and not software. SMH got caught in the AI drop but I think will recover. Microsoft is in the penalty box for awhile. and is in a tough spot. If the IRAN/USA conflict continues to heat up, I am going to push into energy and back into GOLD (SGOL) since it will most likely ride up again. IRAN sent out a drone today to attack the US fleet and this will only provoke the Department of War. I predict if the US is going to attack it will be on the new moon, around Feb 17th also depending on weather.
I personally sold my $PAAS shares on Tuesday and sold some of my $SGOL on Wednesday. This feels like a short term bubble. Perhaps we see another big move up, but the easy money has been made, and I see safer returns elsewhere. My mom also texted me 3 weeks ago about silver which is about as big of a red flag for a bubble as it can get.
# Gold is Screaming a Warning—And I’ve Been Listening for Two Years I’ve been bullish on Gold for over 24 months, and the market is finally validating what the fundamentals have been signaling all along. This isn't just a "hunch" for me; I have significant skin in the game with several thousand shares of **SGOL** and hundreds of call options. Here is why I believe Gold isn’t going down anytime soon: # 1. The Debt Reckoning Gold will only see a slow pullback when—and *if*—the government gets serious about balancing the budget and paying off the national debt. Until we see a legitimate commitment to fiscal sanity, Gold remains the only honest referee in the room. # 2. The Devaluation of the Dollar Let’s be candid: the US Dollar is losing its status as a store of value. It has been hollowed out by decades of overspending. Gold isn't just "going up"; the dollar is falling down, and the chart is telling us the truth that politicians won't. # 3. The Economic Path Forward Unless the Trump administration can successfully ignite growth across all sectors and strategically use tariffs to chip away at our mountain of debt, we are in serious trouble. We are already on the brink, and Gold is the ultimate canary in the coal mine. **The Bottom Line:** I’m staying long and staying protected. Gold is telling us a story about the future of our economy—it’s time people started paying attention.
1100 shares of SGOL, feels good rn
Tomorrow is the BIG DAY! Microsoft Earnings! The number to watch, Azure Cloud Growth. Scenario A (The Boom): Azure growth accelerates (due to Copilot AI). The stock pops. The "Risk On" rally continues. Scenario B (The Bust): Azure growth slows or AI costs are too high. The stock drops. Goldman sees: Outflows from Tech ($900M) and massive inflows into International (EM) and Cyclicals. So if MSFT falters tomorrow, get out of Magnificent 7 and into energy, and old economy value stocks., and possibly GOLD. My picks: VYMI, VDE, SGOL, SCHD, SCHG, SMH I sold all my Google today and took some of the upside of SMH. Tomorrow I will see if I was right.
i sold a bit to switch to SGOL. idk because i hold PPA , but i wouldn't say 180 to 175 as tanking, that's like 3% from ATH
GLD, IAU, SGOL, GLTR, SLV, SLVR, PALL, etc are all physically backed
For gold I am using SGOL, but can’t tell you what makes it better or worse.
70% nasdaq 10% AMD (your pick) 10% WMT (your pick) 10% SGOL Rebalance every couple years in November
I don't know, all my shitz appreciated in value today: RCAT, STZ, SGOL, UNH. But I still fucked it up: sold covered calls, probably all will get exercised on Friday.
SGOL has $7 billion worth in gold sitting in a vault in London. 1.5 million ounces just to back the value of their ETF. Crazy
If you want returns, gold and silver are not the play right now. If you want to keep your cash safe SGOL is a decent place to put it, but for stashing cash SGOV is a good play right now as an inflation hedge.
Here is my stack since 12/29/2025 SCHG 45% SCHD 25% SGOL (Just bailed after making 6%) SMH 20% with a 15% Trailing Stop GOOGLE with a 10% Trailing Stop (totally speculative, I think they are going to own AI after the bubble bursts, probably going to sell and wait until the next dip) SGOV (Parking cash here for dollar cost averaging and buying dips) VYMI (Just sold after making 2.5%) COF (Bought it when dropped 10% on Trump's push to 10% APR on Credit Cards, already made 3%, did a sell to cover) The S&P returned 1.5% this year and I am already up 3.5% I am not going to VOO and chill. I am going to be aggressive, buy the fear like COF, chase the SEMIs, and chase the growth with SCHG then use SCHD to keep plowing dividends back into more cash and stock. So far I have beaten the market nearly every day of the year (NASDAQ, DJIA, S&P 500) including today which they were all down and I was still up .07% I am not fanatical about it but watch it at least every couple of days and trade at lunch based on news. My goal is to hustle 20% or better this year and I have 16.5% to go and 3.5% just at Jan 16th isn't too bad. My macro investor friends keep screaming about the Schiller Cape and are predicting a crash around August-December timeframe 2026. Everything is so dynamic right now it scares me a little.
seems like a lot of folks buy tickers GLD and SLV there are other ETFs that focus on gold and silver tho. e.g. IAU, SGOL, PHYS, SLVR, SIVR, etc
Just buy GLD or SGOL like a normal person
My gold ETF is SGOL but I would use GLD's put contracts for better liquidity. The problem is I would need 35 short puts and 70 long puts to make a tailhedge totaling 105 contracts that would have to be rolled again in 30 days. I put in a request to Schwab to lower my options commission to $0.15/contract. Wish me luck, lol. Alternatively, I can lower the # of contracts by using put options on /GC. There, I would only need 6 long puts and 3 short puts.
[Gold is on the march](https://www.google.com/finance/beta/quote/SGOL:NYSEARCA?window=1Y&comparison=DJIA%3ANYSEARCA&type=line)! It is outperforming the index funds :)
Nothing wrong with VOO/VI it's slow, safe, growth over time. This is my strategy and I believe it will beat VOO/VTI over the next year, but I have higher risk exposure in SMH and SGOL. |SMH (Semiconductors)|15%| |:-|:-| |SCHD|20%| |GLD/SGOL|15%| |VYMI|10%| |SGOV|10%| |SCHG|30%|
It does not matter how much you "love" or "trust" your adviser. The relevant question is, how much value do they add? How does the performance and risk profile of your adviser-managed portfolio compare to something simple like: 60% broad stock ETF (VOO, VTI etc) 40% t-bill ETF (SGOV, VBIL etc) --- OR --- 60% broad stock ETF 20% t-bill ETF 20% gold ETF (SGOL, IAU, IAUM etc) PS: I outgrew my adviser five minutes after I read one thin little book twenty years ago: "Fail Safe Investing" by Harry Browne.
SGOL is best if you want to boycott the monopoly companies like blackrock. PHYS has liquidity issues in comparison.
SGOL ETF has the lowest expense ratio.
I like SGOL, there are many similar options though.
CEF and SGOL are gold. GLD is more paper gold. I like GDXY for gold exposure plus yield. The gold royalty companies are great FNV WPM etc.
If racehorses can be held in a self-directed IRA then I suppose physical gold can be too. IRAs of the self-directed kind are a special kind of IRA. Is a single-commodity ETF treated as an ordinary stock ETF? Not if it’s a grantor trust like GLD or SGOL or IBIT or FBTC. These are treated as if you actually own the commodity itself, and are using the ETF as a custodian of sorts. And the maintenance fees we pay these ETFs? They’re an expense the IRS recognizes and we can add them to our cost basis. Complicating things a bit is that the ETF shaves off a bit of our commodity each month and cashes it to pay expenses. That’s a taxable event that gets passed through to us and we report those monthly transactions on Schedule D.
Nothing wrong with owning some gold, but performing chasing rarely ends well. Check into gold ETFs like GLDM or SGOL instead of only physical. And do not underestimate how much you lose to selling margins when trying to sell physical gold.
i bought an option on SGOL am i regarded?
I’ve got SGOL in a taxable account sitting on 142% gains, some of which I cashed in to spend on next year living expenses.(I’m in post retirement.) I also run a tail hedge, occasionally using SPX put options. Since these run at a small loss, most of the time, I can use those losses to offset gains.
GLDM is what I use. I also like SGOL.
first check your wallet for missing $200 dollar bills. then I guess you could buy OTM puts on GLD or SGOL or some other gold ETF.
Bought more SGOL today. Also bought SGOL puts so any gains I might make will be cancelled out by the option premium.
In early 2020, I made GLD & SGOL between 5-10% of my portfolio as an insurance policy. It is currently 6.5%. I sold a few miners recently after they made a good run, but I have held onto two that I felt were a bit undervalued. I also bought GDX and GDXJ in my retirement back in early 2020.
The real cool gold guys go in for SGOL and get that Swiss flavor
You can purchase commodity holding shares like SGOL, which has a lot of gold in a Swiss vault.
I'm not really holding much cash, but I've weighted my portfolio towards gold ETFs (SGOL and GDX). So far been up 44% this year on those two alone
The opportunity is very likely bogus. If you want to own gold and have it easy to trade, look at SGOL.
18 yr, US citizen, and currently have ≈ $1100 in my Roth 401k plan not-including the $15 I’ve made on interest since starting contributions in January — my current investments are VOO 25%, IWF 10%, SGOL 20% VSGDX 15%, FNCL 15%, and IJR 15% based on the auto-generated split from the website my employer uses and slight adjustments by me — are there any changes that should be made or should I be mostly fine since I have a while before retiring and I’ll be adding more money to it as time goes on? P.S. Gold is to offset other losses as it’s been my most stable stock when compared to how the others have shifted due to things like international relations (not sure if either of the “t-words” are banned on this sub)
I did. I had everything in FXIAX (Fidelity’s VOO) and sold during the slide. I didn’t time the bottom perfectly but did OK. I bought back in with a somewhat more conservative portfolio: gold, international funds, utilities, and short-term bonds, plus I put about 20% back into VUG and VOO. So far the SGOL has done the best, with VUG and VYMI running second. VYMI has been more volatile than expected causing me to doubt that choice but I’m holding on. Overall, I’m almost back to where I was in late Feb though I have a far different mix. I’m underperforming the market now but just barely.
I bought bullion in 2001 and haven't transacted since. At the time, physical PM ETFs (like SGOL, CEF and AAAU) didn't exist. The gold has kept up with the S&P 500 over the past 24 years, the much smaller silver investment has lagged. Physical metals are insurance against collapse of the paper metals markets, and more generally, fiat currencies. The metal futures exchanges underlying the paper ETFs only have reserves covering a tiny fraction of the value of ETFs that hold only futures contracts (GLD, IAU, SLV). In the past couple of years, a number of "whales" have stood for delivery on the LME and COMEX, withdrawing gold and silver to be transferred to their own vaults. This is frowned upon by the exchanges, but for foreign central banks or billionaires, can be a cost effective way to accumulate or to arbitrage between the exchanges. The interval between standing for delivery and actual delivery has lengthened from days to months. Ultimately, when there's *no* physical underlying the futures exchanges, the ruse will be up. What's the value of GLD or IAU then? I think selected precious metals miners are better investments than physical PMs now, and that where my interest has been for the past year. I'm planning on selling a portion of the gold (eagles) and all the silver (pre-1964 coins) and when the prices hit targets well above current, more for rebalancing than for need. And yes, one can walk into any coin shop and get a price near spot for them. I bought for small premiums above spot (\~$280 and 4.80/oz, respectively) 24 years ago, but at present, coin shop bids above spot are a pipe dream, due to short term market imbalances (Americans are liquidating their holdings, even as Chinese and Indians accumulate). Should individual investor demand return in the US (as during the pandemic and in past PM cycles), the premiums will as well.
SGOL 100% physical gold bullion.
I’ve held SGOL for 20 years. No complaints. As 20% of my portfolio, it saved said portfolio’s bacon this year.
I’m in post retirement and my SGOL has grown 91% in 5yrs. It’s now become almost 17% of my whole portfolio. I still hate gold and having to own it. But it’s certainly earned a right to be in the portfolio. It and bitcoin have been good diversifiers and those plus foreign stocks is why I’m up 15.43% for the trailing 12 mos and 9.63% YTD, GLDM came on board after I got into SGOL and has cheaper annual expenses I think. But I don’t know its other characteristics. Might be worth comparing.
Peter Lynch is a good mentor, and "How I Invest My Money" by Brown and Portnoy is a good reference Consider that every time rates are high you'll want to load up on corp bond funds Traders in Lake Wobegon know - "Only half the SP500 is above average" Keep your gambling to a minimum, and your learning at a maximum Suggest building positions in COST and SGOL during the next couple years A Roth IRA that's independent of your employers 401k may allow you greater flexibility in your investments God Bless
Risks aren't gone. Buying gold (SGOL), Bitcoin (IBIT), international (VXUS), energy (VDE) The market recovered because the tariffs were removed/lessoned. Not because of good policies actually helping the economy. Many more bad policies on the horizon.
Yeah I wouldn't buy an ETF holding gold in the US whatsoever right now but almost none do. I personally own SGOL instead for Swiss reserves that I trust even more. His "he who owns the gold makes the rules" tweet made me a bit of a Panican
I’m addicted to posting here. I need a good ban. !banbet SGOL 3% 2d
That’s a real thing lmao, calls/puts on SGOL or GLD are available
This is probably the best signal ive seen to buy SIVR and SGOL
You might consider SGOL instead of IAU, with an expense ratio of just 0.17%. If I hold physical gold stock it's SGOL, but if I buy options it's GLD.
Have you considered fixing the feeling of hopelessness, by actively managing it? Or at least a partitioned portion of it? At least that way, the "constant checking" could turn into "constant doing something about it". E.g., swing trading. Even if a small % of it. Maybe some % that, if you hypothetically lost of of it, would be worth it for your mental health to feel control over the situation. And who knows, you might start learning some things about trading, get decent at it, and be able to more actively manage your entire portfolio. (I wouldn't swing-trade your whole portfolio. But at least learn when "it's about time" approximately to just exit the market altogether like a Warren Buffet boss [you could always just copy his moves], and/or or ease into SGOL, and/or dabble with SPXS for fun on bad days.)
Anything wrong with buying gold ETF (SGOL/GLD/IAU) and just leave it for 3,5,7 years? or is it for constant trading and not long term holding?
It's a good idea. Just avoid IAU's options because they are thinly traded. Use GLD's contracts instead. I have a stable position in SGOL and write GLD call contracts against it. The call contracts for gold ETFs that are grantor trusts are treated as Section 1256 contracts by the way. Sixty percent of any gains is taxed as a long-term gain, regardless of holding period.
SGOL and FXE is all you need right now. Money is flocking out of the markets to gold and the US dollar is going to continue to tank relative to the Euro.
I have been looking at gold ETFs, I see that IAU's vault is in NY....is that safe since Trump is in power? maybe buy gold ETF that's stores in london, swiss etc or am I thinking too much? I am looking at GLD, SGOL, IAU, AAAU.
AAAU/SGOL/GLD/IAU, GLD is the best? IAU the vault is in NY, maybe don't buy that since gold vault is in NY?
No point in having GLD and SGOL. Just get GLDM and done.
Gold ETFs. Like ticker SGOL, for example
Many gold ETFs have very reasonable expense ratios, so don’t let that stop you from dipping your toes in. I have SGOL and IAUM in my Vanguard brokerage account.
Look for GOLD ETFs like $FGDL, $BAR, $SGOL and $IAUM
Depends - SGOL is actually meticulously backed by physical Gold
Gold as well >>> steady money every day AGI and SGOL
The only green I have is on Gold stocks: AGI, SGOL
Buying, holding, and selling physical gold has its place (I have some), but mostly as a hedge against complete financial collapse or a situation where digital records are wiped out. I think physical gold-backed ETFs like SGOL that hold their gold in non-US locations (London and Zurich in this case) are the next best thing.
Plenty of gold trusts online to buy. GLD and SGOL are the oldest and best, respectively.
UDN, PHYS or SGOL, Maybe EWL
Buy SGOL and IAU. You can read up on the details.
There are ETS that are backed by physical Gold. I prefer SGOL ETF (Swiss Gold) and IAU ETF.
Yep, as a hedge against the destruction of the republic, I've been buying FXF, FXE, FXY and little FXB over the past month, along with gold ETFs. Today was a good day for all! |[FXB](https://holdings.web.vanguard.com/holding-details/493024510090726?positionId=948063539121456)|INVESCO CURRENCYSHARES BRITISH POUND STERLING TRUST ETF|$124.62|\+$1.48|\+1.2%|| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |[FXE](https://holdings.web.vanguard.com/holding-details/493024510090726?positionId=216970558093001)|INVESCO CURRENCYSHARES EURO TRUST ETF|$103.47|\+$2.51|\+2.49%|| |[FXF](https://holdings.web.vanguard.com/holding-details/493024510090726?positionId=275069536093001)|INVESCO CURRENCYSHARES SWISS FRANC TRUST ETF|$107.66|\+$4.13|\+3.99%|| |[FXY](https://holdings.web.vanguard.com/holding-details/493024510090726?positionId=801102559093001)|INVESCO CURRENCYSHARES JAPANESE YEN TRUST ETF|$63.79|\+$1.43|\+2.29%|| |[GDX](https://holdings.web.vanguard.com/holding-details/493024510090726?positionId=321869541093017)|VANECK GOLD MINERS ETF|$47.17|\+$2.18|\+4.85%|| |[IAUM](https://holdings.web.vanguard.com/holding-details/493024510090726?positionId=161108535093005)|ISHARES GOLD TRUST MICRO ETF|$31.63|\+$0.79|\+2.56%|| |[SGOL](https://holdings.web.vanguard.com/holding-details/493024510090726?positionId=590592558093001)|ABRDN STANDARD PHYSICAL GOLD ETF|$30.26|\+$0.75|\+2.54%|
Right now, gold (SGOL) and T-bills (SGOV).
If you are OK ruling out a zombie apocalypse in your planning then gold-backed bullion ETFs are a good economical tradeoff. If the financial world does have a complete meltdown then gold bugs who insist on owning the physical stuff may ultimately be right...or they might be wrong and toilet paper will be the big commodity again. Anyway... The problem with physical is that the cost is high to warehouse, secure & insure. I control (not directly own) several pounds of gold by way of the SGOL etf. SGOL's bullion is warehoused in London and audited regularly. New to the scene is GLDM with what is probably the cheapest annual expense of just 0.10% (7 basis points lower than SGOL). But I'm not sure where GLDM keeps its gold.
SGOL to ride out the storm? You can switch it over to one of your other ETFs when things calm down. SGOL has a low expense ratio and gold might go high this year.
You could predict Covid and I sold. I feel dumb for not selling off on the tariffs but actually a stupid man is less predictable than a pandemic. There were early signs of the pandemic being serious having high R factor and being uncontrolled. It was not easily controlled in one of the most obedient quarantinable countries and there was plenty of info and videos leaked. I did well buying into the mortgage meltdown and timing covid (both with early info and being bullish the moment positive vaccine trials became a thing). This is all hindsight 20 20 but i feel statistically knowing what we have seen so far, the likelihood that a strongly defensive portfolio (high bonds, SGOL, BRKB) would have outperformed seem far more likely than a MAG7A induced rally.
"Shorting against the Box" is not a thing that's permitted anymore. (I'm 64yo now and actually tried this a couple years ago. Didn't realize rules had changed!) You've got the right idea about swapping a security for a loss for a new one that's a good enough replacement. (Hint: aim for "good enough". Your choice of SCHB & VTI aren't convincing to the IRS. Both are broad US market funds, similarly weighted.) But you didn't exactly say that this $50K would be swapped, but rather frozen in place, right? So is your idea then to protect approx $50K in gains? If that's the case then IMO the best way is to spend a bit of money to dollar for dollar protect what you want protected using SPY put contracts. People here can help with that. The next best way IMHO is a covered-call sort of setup. Except in my case, since I have significant gains in the things I'm trying to protect, I really wouldn't want them being called away and making a messy taxable event. So I own SGOL, but write GLD contracts. I own SPHQ but write SPY contracts and I own IEFA but write EFA calls, etc. You've got VTI, so SPY is perfect to use to write some calls. The idea being that if you write $50K worth of SPY calls, then the worst case might be winding up in a position where you're short SPY. But at least no VTI shares were called away.
SGOL is a good gold ETF. It has a low expense ratio. I own some shares.
More gold (SGOL), more VT. Otherwise pretty much the same amount of DCA into the market
We own SGOL, cheaper expense ratio than GLD or IAU.
Check out SGOL or AAAU - both backed by physical gold, and I think at least some of it’s vaulted in the US. But yeah, def worth digging into their prospectuses to be sure
I just made an interesting observation about gold proxies. I compared IAUM, GLDM, SGOL, and IAU. Those are listed in order from lowest expense ratio to highest. Given the nature of the funds, it's probably not coincidental that their YTD, 1 year, and 3 year returns absolutely inversely correlate. Also, I was surprised that both the highest and lowest of the four were IShares funds. The differences in expense ratios and returns among the four are only fractions of a percentage point so the much bigger questions are whether and how much you want to hold gold; if so, whether you want to hold physical or proxies; and whether you want to further leverage by holding mining companies. Lesson learned: if you're going to use funds like this, look for a low expense ratio.
You can do SGOL if you want a gold ETF that just tracks the spot price of gold without the mining stocks.
Shoutout to the other guy who recommended SGOL over GLD. Both ETFs up 100% in 5 years but one with significantly lower fees
Thanks for the SGOL advice! Out of curiosity though, how much more conservative could I get?
Here is a free website where you can compare two ETFs: [https://stockanalysis.com/etf/compare/](https://stockanalysis.com/etf/compare/) Invest inside a tax-advantaged account if you can. (401k, traditional IRA, Roth IRA) There is some overlap between VT and VOO but that's not necessarily bad. Use this website to look at overlap: [https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php](https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php) I use the gold ETF SGOL because of its lower fees. (expense ratio of .17% vs .40% for GLD) I think the economy and market are going into a slump but you're young and your initial investments are small so it won't affect long-term performance much. The question is, will you sell easily if the value of your portfolio drops at first. If the answer is yes, start out with more conservative investments.