Americans think gold beats stocks as a long-term investment. Advisors disagree: 'It's more like a speculation'

cnbc.com:

Americans are upbeat on gold and have soured on stocks — perhaps to their detriment.

Twenty-six percent of Americans ranked gold as the best long-term investment in 2023, almost double the 15% who thought so in 2022, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The share surpassed that of stocks: 18% of Americans ranked stocks as the top long-term holding, down from 24% last year, according to the survey.

It was the first time since 2013 that their perception of stocks was below that of gold. Both ranked behind real estate.

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While Americans were asked to gauge sentiment about the long term, public perception is guided more by short-term swings in investment performance, said Gallup, which polled a random sample of 1,013 adults between April 3 and 25.

And that recency bias can be dangerous for investors saving for a goal like retirement, which may be decades away.

«As a long-term investment, [gold] is a very poor solution,» said Charlie Fitzgerald, a certified financial planner and principal of Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo in Orlando, Florida.

«It's more like a speculation,» he added.

Stocks generally serve as the long-term growth engine of an investment portfolio, financial advisors said.

The S&P 500 Index of stocks had a 10.43% average annual total return between 1970 and 2022, according to an analysis by Securian Asset Management. Gold had a 7.7% return over the same period. (After the U.S. gold standard ended in 1971, the price of gold was no longer fixed, making the early 1970s a good starting point for a price comparison.) 

The price of gold, which is often viewed as a safe haven, typically jumps during times of fear and economic malaise. For example, gold