...[Independent research recommends that] an allocation of 10% to gold and 5% to silver should be enough to ensure you will do much better in the coming market crash.

...To support this position, in 2005 BMG engaged Ibbotson and Associates to provide an analysis of proper portfolio diversification. Their conclusion:

• An investor can potentially improve the reward-to-risk ratio in conservative, moderate and aggressive asset allocations by including precious metals with allocations of 7.1%, 12.5%, and 15.7%, respectively. [Your Portfolio Isn’t Adequately Diversified Without 7-15% in Precious Metals – Here’s Why]

David Ranson, an assistant to then Treasury Secretary William E. Simon during the Reagan Administration, and president of Wainwright Associates concluded that:

• in order to protect an equity portfolio from inflation, you need an allocation of 40% to gold, and
• in order to protect a bond portfolio, you need gold allocation of 18%.

However, how much gold do you need if, like 50%+ of Canadians & Americans, you do not have enough savings or assets to meet your retirement needs. In this case, you may need:

• as much as 100% during the immediate short term,
• and 20% for gold
• and 10% for silver on an ongoing basis.

Without this allocation, a typical portfolio of a 60/40 allocation to stocks and bonds will give you no chance of having a comfortable retirement or breaking even during the next market crash.

There is no rule that says you must always stay invested. There are times to take your money off the table and sit it out if the risks are greater than the potential returns – today is one of those times.

Hold your money in cash and, if you have enough knowledge and self-confidence, hold gold.

Instead of experiencing painful portfolio declines and severe losses in your savings, you will be able to buy the best stocks at pennies on the dollar at the bottom of the correction...

If you sat out the market crash in cash and then invested two years later, you would have made a 2-fold return (216.6%) by January 31, 2019. If you held gold instead of cash, you would have made a 3-fold return (317.0%).