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Notes -
Not quite. Gold very briefly spiked in 1980. It reached a high of $843 for a single day. It's true that if you somehow managed to top-tick this speculative bubble, you'd have performed poorly.
The returns for most periods after 1971 look decent.
It's actually a wonderful buy and hold investment. What it isn't is a low-volatility investment. And it's pro-cyclical so it almost certainly won't save you during a market crash either. Gold is best as a hedge against a period of high inflation when other assets perform poorly.
5% is not great by historical measures, but I agree the Fed is likely to lower rates in the next 2 years which might make long-term treasuries a decent investment in the short run. If they lower rates, the new bonds at 2% or whatever will be terrible investments. But you will get paid back. In dollars.
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