Natural Resource Investing
Gold’s Strength Is a Signal. Are Portfolios Ready?
Are the recent booms in gold and silver prices just a short-term fad?
Or… are they a deeper sign that something in our financial markets is breaking underneath the surface?
A new warning from Porter Stansberry sent shivers down my spine…
Porter is the founder of MarketWise. He’s spent 25 years as a pioneer in financial publishing, investment analysis, and market commentary. So when he talks, we listen.
As you know, gold and silver are soaring – up 66% and 148%, respectively, in 2025 alone.
“What’s driving the price of these metals higher isn’t merely today’s inflation,” Porter warns. “It is the growing recognition of the world’s major banks that the U.S. dollar is no longer a suitable reserve currency.”
His prediction?
A complete collapse in America’s economy – led by the destruction of our banks and the end of Social Security and Medicare as we know them today – to occur over the next seven years.
Citing historical precedent, Porter lays out his case:
Back in 1871, Austrian economist Carl Menger published Principles of Economics, arguing that money doesn’t work because governments declare it so. It works because people choose it – because it holds value when other promises don’t.
But what happens when folks stop choosing it?
When money’s been degraded, devalued, and debased to a point of distrust?
Porter argues that nearly every modern monetary failure traces back to governments forgetting that lesson…
From there, he turns to the U.S. economy in all its current “glory” – pockmarked by runaway deficits… easy money… central banks trying to manage systems that were never meant to be managed.
“Gold and silver’s surge,” he writes, “signals markets awakening to this debasement, as investors flee fiat for sound money.”
Porter’s not the only one sounding the alarm…
Readers of Jim Rickards already expect higher metals prices ahead, too…
Based on multiple wars, continued money printing out of thin air, and Trump’s aggressive stance for the Fed to cut rates and flood the system with liquidity, Rickards has been clear that gold continuing higher in 2026 wouldn’t surprise him at all. In fact, he’s suggested prices as high as $10,000 an ounce are well within the realm of possibility.
“Of course, I’ve got my eye on the Fed,” writes Sarah Cicero, CFP®, CFA®, managing partner at independent firm StoneBridge Advisors, a WorthNet partner adviser.
“Markets are increasingly pricing in rate cuts as political pressure continues to intensify in 2026. When rate cuts hit, the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like gold declines. In other words, gold becomes more attractive as an investment because rate cuts remove the penalty for holding it.”
Sarah pointed back to prior easing cycles – particularly the period from 2019 into 2020 – when the Fed slashed rates to zero and flooded the system with liquidity. “During that cycle,” she said, “gold gained nearly 80% between August 2019 and August 2020, alongside aggressive rate cuts and quantitative easing.”
If investor concerns about how rate cuts affect the dollar are valid, then here’s how gold prices performed during the past six rate-cutting cycles.
“Historically, when cash and bonds offer less compensation,” Sarah said, “investors start reassessing what else in the portfolio can hold and add value. That’s something I’m seeing more frequently with clients as expectations around rate cuts build.”
In environments like this, she noted, diversification starts to mean something slightly different.
“When rates are falling due to fragile growth, historic correlations can break down,” she said. “Assets that once moved in tandem may no longer do so. In those environments, preserving flexibility and resilience become just as important as maximizing returns.”
And that’s where gold and other hard assets tend to reenter the conversation. Not as a trade, but as a counterweight.
“For many clients,” Sarah explained, “Gold isn’t about trying to time the market. It’s about having something in the portfolio that doesn’t rely on central banks, earnings growth, or policy promises to do its job.”
It’s a reminder of Porter’s central warning: money only works when it’s trusted – and portfolios behave differently when that trust starts to thin.
So this is a good moment to step back and look at a portfolio through the lens of what holds up if this environment lasts longer than expected.
“As policy support plays a larger role in markets,” Sarah said, “it pushes investors to ask uncomfortable questions about what’s really providing stability in their portfolios – and what’s only thrived as a byproduct of easy money.”
P.S. When history, policy, and real-world portfolio behavior all start telling the same story, that’s not the market sneezing – it’s telling us something.
For readers who want to continue exploring how advisers think through environments like this, WorthNet helps connect investors with independent firms, including StoneBridge Advisors and Sarah Cicero. Simply click the button below to get started.
WorthNet itself doesn’t provide advisory services and is not a client of StoneBridge Advisors or the other advisers; rather, we are compensated for promoting certain advisers in our network and we have a financial incentive to recommend these advisers, which creates a material conflict of interest.
Sarah L. Cicero, CFP®, CFA®
President & Managing Partner of StoneBridge Advisors
Strategic Planner, Your Investment Partner
Sarah L. Cicero is President and Managing Partner of StoneBridge Advisors, where she leads a team of advisors who help individuals and families build structured wealth management plans that balance growth, risk, and flexibility. StoneBridge Advisors* (CRD #23131) is a proud member of the WorthNet partner adviser network.
Ready to Connect with a Financial Adviser?
Let’s Get Started.
Last Revised: March 27, 2026