WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.740 If you've been watching the financial news at 00:00:01.740 --> 00:00:04.500 all, you probably saw the headline that made 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:06.299 just about everyone stop what they were doing. 00:00:06.299 --> 00:00:10.300 Oh, yeah. Gold prices surging past $4 ,200 an 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:13.380 ounce in late 2025. Oh. I mean, that's not just 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.079 a bump. That's basically the entire system's 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:18.500 warning light just flashing bright red. It really 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:21.000 is a huge signal. So our mission in this deep 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.280 dive. figure out what's really driving this but 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.460 you know more importantly we're looking at how 00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:30.500 these escalating US fiscal uncertainties are 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:35.409 forcing a fundamental and kind of painful rethink 00:00:35.409 --> 00:00:38.210 of the investment strategies we all use to just 00:00:38.210 --> 00:00:40.450 take for granted. It really feels like the old 00:00:40.450 --> 00:00:42.850 playbook is failing. Okay, so let's unpack this. 00:00:42.929 --> 00:00:45.590 And that rethink is absolutely essential right 00:00:45.590 --> 00:00:48.189 now. Because that classic safety net, the 60 00:00:48.189 --> 00:00:50.909 -40 equities to bonds model that everyone from 00:00:50.909 --> 00:00:53.969 retirees to pension funds relied on, it's eroding, 00:00:54.109 --> 00:00:56.609 fundamentally. The bedrock of portfolio construction 00:00:56.609 --> 00:01:00.210 for decades. For decades. And wisdom tree research 00:01:00.210 --> 00:01:03.820 has been really clear on this. Four conditions 00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:07.099 that made 60 -40 work like low inflation and 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:09.560 assets moving in opposite direction. A negative 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:11.659 correlation. A negative correlation, exactly. 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:14.359 Those conditions just haven't reliably shown 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:17.500 up since all that volatility back in 2022. The 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:20.079 whole safety mechanism kind of broke and that 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.319 broken link is really the core problem we have 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:24.719 to get our heads around today. And it seems like 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:27.239 the root cause of this, this malfunction is the 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:29.239 state of the U .S. balance sheet. I mean, we 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:31.280 talk about debt ceilings and spending, but let's 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.760 quantify it. What is the scale of the fiscal 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:35.980 landscape that's causing all this instability? 00:01:36.659 --> 00:01:40.980 We're talking about massive destructural numbers. 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.599 In fiscal year 2025, the U .S. recorded a deficit 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:48.510 of, wait for it, $1 .78 trillion. A trillion. 00:01:48.849 --> 00:01:50.930 It's a number that's almost hard to conceptualize. 00:01:51.069 --> 00:01:53.230 It really is. And to put it in context, that 00:01:53.230 --> 00:01:58.049 translates to 5 .9 % of GDP. 5 .9%. I mean, that's 00:01:58.049 --> 00:02:01.150 way beyond what most economists would call sustainable, 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:03.390 especially when we're not in a deep recession 00:02:03.390 --> 00:02:05.989 or some massive war. So what does a deficit that 00:02:05.989 --> 00:02:08.550 big actually mean for the average investor? It 00:02:08.550 --> 00:02:10.669 means higher interest payments are just eating 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:13.330 up a bigger and bigger piece of the budget. It 00:02:13.330 --> 00:02:15.210 squeezes out productive spending in the future. 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:17.750 It means the treasury is under constant pressure 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:20.469 to issue new debt, which, you know, drives up 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:23.210 supply and challenges that whole idea of safe 00:02:23.210 --> 00:02:26.509 assets being scarce. It basically just raises 00:02:26.509 --> 00:02:29.610 the long -term tax burden on future growth. So 00:02:29.610 --> 00:02:33.009 this deficit isn't just a number on a page anymore. 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:36.830 It's become the background hum of systemic risk 00:02:36.830 --> 00:02:39.550 in the market. And what's so fascinating here 00:02:39.550 --> 00:02:42.500 is the, I guess, the internal fight. creating 00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:44.960 that number. You have these two forces pushing 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:46.800 against each other. That's a great way to put 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:49.699 it. On one side, you had these measures to boost 00:02:49.699 --> 00:02:51.659 revenue, right? Like the the terrorists from 00:02:51.659 --> 00:02:53.580 the Trump administration. They brought in a significant 00:02:53.580 --> 00:02:55.960 amount, something like two hundred and two billion 00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.360 dollars, which is a huge jump year over year. 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:00.379 A massive jump. Yeah, one hundred forty two percent. 00:03:00.659 --> 00:03:03.219 But that extra revenue was just immediately swallowed 00:03:03.219 --> 00:03:05.439 up by these enormous spending pressures from 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.939 tax rebates, corporate incentives. So it's a 00:03:07.939 --> 00:03:10.659 fiscal treadmill, basically running so fast that 00:03:10.659 --> 00:03:13.129 even a A huge injection of cash can't help you 00:03:13.129 --> 00:03:15.090 catch up. Exactly. It's like trying to fell a 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:16.930 bucket that has a massive hole in the bottom. 00:03:17.710 --> 00:03:20.150 And investors really felt the sharp end of this 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:22.469 recently. Talking about the shutdown. The shutdown 00:03:22.469 --> 00:03:26.590 and that $284 billion deficit in October alone. 00:03:27.229 --> 00:03:30.009 That combination just poured gasoline on all 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:32.689 the concerns about physical sustainability. I 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:34.789 mean, when Congress can't even agree to keep 00:03:34.789 --> 00:03:37.090 the lights on, the perceived safety of their 00:03:37.090 --> 00:03:41.159 debt just poof. And that instability, that brinkmanship, 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:44.180 that's the noise that's making these supposedly 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:47.240 safe investments feel so shaky. It is. OK, so 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:49.159 let's pivot to the other half of that failing 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:53.080 60 -40 equation then, the bond market. For decades, 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:55.500 the biggest knock against gold was always the 00:03:55.500 --> 00:03:59.020 no -yield argument, right? Why hold a lump of 00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:01.099 metal when you can get safe guaranteed income 00:04:01.099 --> 00:04:03.580 from U .S. government debt? It was a very compelling 00:04:03.580 --> 00:04:06.460 argument for a very long time. It thrived because, 00:04:06.460 --> 00:04:08.439 well, government debt was seen as the bedrock 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:10.319 of safety, and what central banks were going 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:12.879 to do was relatively predictable. But not anymore. 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:15.240 Not anymore. That's the legacy mindset we really 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:18.579 have to break away from. By late 2025, what we're 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:21.160 seeing are yields that are volatile, they're 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.000 unpredictable, and they're tied directly to what 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.899 analysts are politely calling policy improvisation. 00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:29.860 OK, stop there. What does policy improvisation 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:33.350 actually mean in the real world? It's the market 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:36.370 just reacting to sudden, unpredictable shifts. 00:04:36.689 --> 00:04:39.170 It could be fiscal policy, like an unexpected 00:04:39.170 --> 00:04:41.670 spending bill, or a budget crisis, or it could 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:43.930 be the central bank changing its guidance without 00:04:43.930 --> 00:04:46.209 any long -term clarity. So the rules of the game 00:04:46.209 --> 00:04:48.829 just keep changing? Constantly. And when that 00:04:48.829 --> 00:04:51.629 happens, you can't reliably predict your income 00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:54.470 from a bond. That volatility just crushes the 00:04:54.470 --> 00:04:56.889 clarity of opportunity costs. So investors are 00:04:56.889 --> 00:04:59.449 forced to start chasing a few extra basis points 00:04:59.449 --> 00:05:01.490 of yield, and they have to start weighing these 00:05:01.490 --> 00:05:04.430 much bigger, broader systemic risks. Which brings 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:06.910 us to the technical side. Right. And here's where 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:09.350 the real pain comes in for bonds. They've been 00:05:09.350 --> 00:05:12.170 confronted with a huge increase in duration risk. 00:05:12.569 --> 00:05:14.930 Duration risk is a term we hear a lot. Can you 00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:16.850 just break that down in simple terms for us? 00:05:17.290 --> 00:05:18.910 What does that mean for treasuries right now? 00:05:19.050 --> 00:05:21.339 Sure. It just means the longer you have until 00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:23.579 a bond matures, the more its price is going to 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:26.279 swing when interest rates change. And when rates 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:28.740 are as volatile as they are now, thanks to that 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:31.500 policy improvisation, the value of those long 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:35.259 term bonds swings wildly, wildly. The asset that's 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:38.279 supposed to be safe suddenly becomes a high risk, 00:05:38.459 --> 00:05:41.199 volatile trade. And there's data to back this 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:43.279 up, right? This isn't just a feeling. Oh, absolutely. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.319 We have concrete data. Foreign investors who 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:49.750 are massive holders of U .S. debt have been actively 00:05:49.750 --> 00:05:51.769 diversifying their reserves. They're shifting 00:05:51.769 --> 00:05:54.110 away from treasuries and, you guessed it, moving 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:56.689 toward gold. So it's a direct vote of no confidence. 00:05:57.009 --> 00:05:59.230 It's a direct reflection of waning confidence 00:05:59.230 --> 00:06:01.589 and the reliability of that debt. And this is 00:06:01.589 --> 00:06:04.029 happening even while 10 -year yields were hovering 00:06:04.029 --> 00:06:06.389 near 4 .1 percent, which seems like an attractive 00:06:06.389 --> 00:06:09.569 return. But the perceived risk of the issuer 00:06:09.569 --> 00:06:11.990 is starting to overshadow the yield being offered. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.139 And that shut down chaos really put a spotlight 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:18.399 on this. It just proved that bonds can't be counted 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:20.579 on to counter a stock market downturn anymore. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.100 Exactly. The whole premise of 60 -40 is that 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:26.839 when stocks zig, bonds zag, and your capital 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:29.300 is preserved. But when a political panic sends 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:31.759 both stocks and bonds zigzagging all over the 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.920 place, the whole strategy just implodes. So this 00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:37.519 is where it gets a little strange. Despite all 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:40.959 this the fiscal fears, the bond market chaos 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:43.339 U .S. equities actually posted pretty solid gains 00:06:43.339 --> 00:06:46.720 in 2025. On the surface, it looks like stocks 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.779 are saving the day, right? But what was actually 00:06:49.779 --> 00:06:52.300 driving those gains? Yeah, that's the paradox. 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:55.480 Those solid headline gains were overwhelmingly 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:57.899 propelled by just a handful of technology companies. 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:00.360 The AI momentum. And the massive AI momentum 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:02.439 and speculation. We're talking about a highly 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:04.579 concentrated market, which is in itself a huge 00:07:04.579 --> 00:07:06.680 risk factor. So if you look beneath that shiny 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.360 surface. You find real fragility. I mean, look 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:12.120 at the broader economy. Consumer sentiment was 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:14.519 soft. Industrial data was all over the place. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.680 Small cap stocks were barely even participating. 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:21.720 It was really an AI powered facade hiding some 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:23.779 serious vulnerability in the rest of the economy. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:25.879 And analysts are already pointing to the headwinds 00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:28.899 for 2026. They are. I mean, think about it. If 00:07:28.899 --> 00:07:31.720 inflation comes roaring back, which all this 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:34.420 deficit spending could certainly fuel, or if 00:07:34.420 --> 00:07:37.540 oil prices spike or if there's any kind of disruption 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:40.079 to that very concentrated tech leadership, those 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:43.040 2025 gains could just evaporate. They could become 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:45.709 extremely volatile. Very, very quickly. It's 00:07:45.709 --> 00:07:47.730 a market that's built on just a few pillars. 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:49.730 And if one of those cracks, the whole thing could 00:07:49.730 --> 00:07:52.389 tilt. OK, so if bonds aren't the reliable hedge 00:07:52.389 --> 00:07:54.870 anymore and equities are standing on a few narrow 00:07:54.870 --> 00:07:57.689 pillars, what is gold becoming in this new world? 00:07:58.029 --> 00:07:59.769 This is where the data gets really fascinating 00:07:59.769 --> 00:08:02.370 because its actual behavior is changing. This 00:08:02.370 --> 00:08:05.569 is the critical point. In 2025, gold exhibited 00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:08.509 a really crucial shift. It moved to a mildly 00:08:08.509 --> 00:08:11.329 positive correlation with yields. OK, let's just 00:08:11.329 --> 00:08:13.759 pause on that. That's. That's the opposite of 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:15.139 how it's supposed to work. It's the complete 00:08:15.139 --> 00:08:18.399 opposite. Historically gold hated rising yields 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:21.740 because suddenly bonds offered real competition. 00:08:21.899 --> 00:08:24.540 Now we're seeing them move together. It's reframing 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:26.819 gold's entire identity in the market. So that 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:29.259 old argument, you can't hold gold when yields 00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:32.539 are high. is basically dead. It's dead. What 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.360 this implies is that gold isn't just a traditional 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:38.779 rate -sensitive trade anymore. It is now functioning 00:08:38.779 --> 00:08:41.919 much more as a fiscal stress indicator. It's 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:44.559 reacting to the stability or the lack of stability 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:46.879 of the financial system itself, not just the 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:49.389 cost of borrowing money. And there's a technical 00:08:49.389 --> 00:08:50.990 indicator that proves this out, isn't there? 00:08:51.149 --> 00:08:53.870 There is, and it's maybe the most telling piece 00:08:53.870 --> 00:08:56.389 of evidence we have. Gold has started closely 00:08:56.389 --> 00:08:59.090 tracking treasury swap spreads. All right, that's 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:01.029 some dense financial jargon. Break that down 00:09:01.029 --> 00:09:03.669 for us. What's a treasury swap spread and why 00:09:03.669 --> 00:09:06.129 should we care that gold is following it? OK, 00:09:06.210 --> 00:09:09.690 so a treasury swap spread measures the difference 00:09:09.690 --> 00:09:12.450 between the yield on a government bond and the 00:09:12.450 --> 00:09:15.950 cost of insuring against risk -like default or 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:19.340 counterparty risk in the swap market. When that 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:22.320 spread gets wider or more volatile, it's a signal. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:24.940 It means the market is demanding a higher price 00:09:24.940 --> 00:09:27.320 to hedge against U .S. systemic financial risk. 00:09:27.899 --> 00:09:30.870 So the fact that gold is tracking that spread 00:09:30.870 --> 00:09:33.750 means investors are literally using gold as direct 00:09:33.750 --> 00:09:36.610 insurance against perceived instability in the 00:09:36.610 --> 00:09:39.269 U .S. Treasury system itself. So gold has become 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:41.669 less of an inflation hedge and more of a confidence 00:09:41.669 --> 00:09:44.090 barometer for the U .S. balance sheet. That's 00:09:44.090 --> 00:09:46.049 the perfect way to put it. And you see this new 00:09:46.049 --> 00:09:48.370 role supported by multiple drivers pushing prices 00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:51.370 above that $4 ,000 mark. Geopolitical tensions 00:09:51.370 --> 00:09:54.049 are a factor. Dollar fluctuations, sure. But 00:09:54.049 --> 00:09:56.909 the critical long -term driver is these persistent 00:09:56.909 --> 00:09:59.659 worries about the deficit. The data is clear. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.519 Those high anxiety periods like the shutdowns 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:05.080 were key triggers for safe haven demand for gold. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:06.899 And it wasn't just private investors. We saw 00:10:06.899 --> 00:10:09.440 this from governments too. On a massive scale, 00:10:10.039 --> 00:10:12.820 central banks around the world bought a staggering 00:10:12.820 --> 00:10:17.679 53 tons of gold in October alone. That is significant, 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:21.019 sustained buying, and it supported prices even 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:23.320 while yields were firming up. They're hedging 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:25.720 their own sovereign risk against the dollar system. 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:27.639 Which brings us full circle back to the failure 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:30.539 of the 60 -40 strategy. Yeah. If it's struggling, 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:33.600 what are the big institutional studies proposing 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.509 as a solution? They're scrambling to find real 00:10:36.509 --> 00:10:39.330 ballast for portfolios. The new frameworks are 00:10:39.330 --> 00:10:41.950 all designed to restore that lost diversification. 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:44.149 We're seeing a lot of talk about the efficient 00:10:44.149 --> 00:10:46.610 core approach. Okay, what's that? It involves 00:10:46.610 --> 00:10:49.269 layering your equities and bonds, but, and this 00:10:49.269 --> 00:10:51.809 is the crucial part, adding a dedicated sleeve 00:10:51.809 --> 00:10:54.309 of diversifiers into the mix, things that behave 00:10:54.309 --> 00:10:56.450 differently from both stocks and government debt. 00:10:56.759 --> 00:10:59.039 And what kind of assets fall into that diversified 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:01.059 category? It can include things like certain 00:11:01.059 --> 00:11:03.159 hedge fund strategies, but increasingly it's 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:05.480 about real assets, assets that react directly 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:08.080 to inflation or this kind of systemic uncertainty. 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:10.559 And I've seen a more specific model being talked 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:14.169 about, the 60 -20 -20 framework. Yes. That's 00:11:14.169 --> 00:11:16.610 a more explicit version. It allocates 60 % to 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:19.210 equities, 20 % to bonds, and then a full 20 % 00:11:19.210 --> 00:11:21.649 to real assets. And the whole point of that 20 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:24.149 % is to respond directly to the counterparty 00:11:24.149 --> 00:11:26.029 risks you get in these policy -driven markets. 00:11:26.409 --> 00:11:28.950 When policymakers are just improvising, you want 00:11:28.950 --> 00:11:31.269 something tangible. So what are we talking about 00:11:31.269 --> 00:11:34.350 when we say real assets, besides gold, obviously? 00:11:34.570 --> 00:11:37.009 Beyond gold, that category includes things like 00:11:37.009 --> 00:11:39.149 commodities, infrastructure investments, and 00:11:39.149 --> 00:11:41.029 certain types of real estate, especially those 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:43.649 with leases that are linked to inflation. They 00:11:43.649 --> 00:11:45.909 provide income that adjusts. And critically, 00:11:46.049 --> 00:11:48.149 they are not a liability issued by a fiscally 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:50.590 strained government. It's about finding safety 00:11:50.590 --> 00:11:53.789 outside the traditional financial system. And 00:11:53.789 --> 00:11:56.629 the source material had a really surprising example 00:11:56.629 --> 00:11:59.169 of how to do this efficiently. It did, the Wisdom 00:11:59.169 --> 00:12:01.269 Tree models. They showed that you could pair 00:12:01.269 --> 00:12:05.190 a heavy, say, 90 % allocation to equities with 00:12:05.190 --> 00:12:08.629 a dedicated gold futures overlay. And historically, 00:12:08.889 --> 00:12:11.269 that acted as a much cheaper and more reliable 00:12:11.269 --> 00:12:13.649 hedge than long -dated treasuries are right now. 00:12:13.789 --> 00:12:17.450 So you don't necessarily need that huge 40 % 00:12:17.450 --> 00:12:20.669 bond allocation to get stability anymore. Exactly. 00:12:20.929 --> 00:12:23.389 You can use modern tools to replace that lost 00:12:23.389 --> 00:12:25.509 ballast, but you have to be very intentional 00:12:25.509 --> 00:12:27.450 about which asset you're choosing to do that 00:12:27.450 --> 00:12:29.889 job. OK, so let's tie this all together. What's 00:12:29.889 --> 00:12:32.080 the core takeaway here? The core takeaway is 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:35.519 that fiscal dynamics, especially these huge structural 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:38.580 U .S. deficits, have just profoundly reshaped 00:12:38.580 --> 00:12:41.620 how all assets relate to each other. This uncertainty 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:44.480 is driving yield behavior. It's driving investor 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.820 allocations. And crucially, gold has stopped 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:50.500 being a simple rate play. It's now responding 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:53.059 directly to debt sustainability and acting as 00:12:53.059 --> 00:12:55.879 a global confidence barometer. So what does this 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:58.919 all mean for you, the listener? Well, the evidence 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:01.080 suggests that the assumptions that define financial 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:03.200 stability for decades, that government debt is 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.700 the safest asset that will perfectly hedge stock 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:09.159 risk, those are changing rapidly. That $4 ,200 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:11.460 gold price is a clear signal that we've entered 00:13:11.460 --> 00:13:14.159 a new phase, and it requires new ways of thinking 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:16.440 about where you find the balance for your portfolio. 00:13:17.299 --> 00:13:19.639 The old safety blanket is looking pretty threadbare. 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:22.100 And that leads to a really important question 00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:25.519 for you to think about. If foreign investors 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.059 and major central banks are actively diversifying 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:31.799 away from treasuries toward gold because of waning 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:35.460 confidence, what long -term systemic changes 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:37.639 might we see in global reserves if these U .S. 00:13:37.740 --> 00:13:40.820 fiscal concerns don't go away? If the dollar's 00:13:40.820 --> 00:13:43.179 role as the undisputed global reserve currency 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:46.279 starts to face real competition, that trend could 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:48.899 have consequences that go far, far beyond your 00:13:48.899 --> 00:13:50.759 personal portfolio. This raises an important 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:54.399 question. Absolutely. intentional diversification 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:57.360 has never been clearer or more urgent. Keep digging 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.039 into these details and we'll be here for the 00:13:59.039 --> 00:13:59.840 next deep dive.