One of the hardest tasks in education now is to encourage students to develop critical thinking skills when information sources have fragmented, and debate and argument seem to have degenerated into simply restating positions with increasing vehemence. When confronted with a statement, we push them to ask: “how likely is this to be true?” and then, self-critically, to reflect “why do I think that?” The second question is really key: do I think it is true because it fits with my beliefs or because I’ve heard other people say it? Or is there a clear and rigorous evidence base supporting it? That is of still greater importance as increasingly we live within echo chambers that feed and nurture our prior conceptions. If you are thinking “well, I don’t” remember that the commercial property industry is a classic echo chamber encouraging group think.

It was in this light that I read the piece “New Year, Oldest Asset” by the Undercover Investor on the Property Chronicle. It’s definitely worth a read. In it, the author states that gold, as an investment “has out-performed the S&P 500 since the turn of the century,” that the commodity had “come out on top of markets as a whole” and made a strong case for its properties as an insurance in times of uncertainty. True to the principles I teach, my initial reaction was “really?” and then I checked myself. For much of my professional and academic life, I’ve had to confront embedded beliefs, one of which is, indeed, that gold is a great asset in portfolios. Given that many of those other beliefs are not firmly grounded in fact, the nerd in me demanded that I went to find out.