Billionaire investor and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio recommended that investors consider allocating up to 15% of their portfolios to gold, even as the precious metal reached an all-time high exceeding $4,000 an ounce.

“Gold is a very excellent diversifier in the portfolio,” Dalio said at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Connecticut on Tuesday.

“If you look at it just from a strategic asset allocation perspective, you would probably have something like 15% of your portfolio in gold … because it is one asset that does very well when the typical parts of the portfolio go down,” he added.

Gold prices hit a record high

The billionaire investor’s remarks come at a time when the Gold futures in New York surged over its $4,000 per ounce mark for the first time on Tuesday, 7 October 2025.

Comex gold futures rose over 0.79%, surpassing $4,000 per ounce and hitting a record high compared to their last close $3,976.30, according to a report from the news agency AP.

Comparison with the early 1970s

Dalio compared the present environment with the early 1970s, when inflation, heavy government spending and high debt loads eroded confidence in paper assets and fiat currencies.

“It’s very much like the early ’70s … where do you put your money in?” he said. “When you are holding money and you put it in a debt instrument, and when there’s such a supply of debt and debt instruments, it’s not an effective storehold of wealth,” he suggested.

Dalio’s recommendation differs from the usual portfolio advice given by financial advisors, who suggest investors mostly hold stocks and some bonds in a 60-40 split. Alternative assets, such as gold and other commodities, are typically suggested to comprise a small single-digit percentage of any portfolio because they do not generate income, according to a report by CNBC.

DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach recently advised allocating up to 25% of the portfolio to gold, citing inflationary pressures and a weakening dollar as reasons he expects gold to remain prominent.

Dalio stated that gold serves as a hedge during periods of monetary debasement and geopolitical instability.

“Gold is the only asset that somebody can hold and you don’t have to depend on somebody else to pay you money for,” he said.