You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

I lost a gold hoop earring the other day, one of several pieces of jewelry that I have recently

disappeared.

And my first thought was, I clearly cannot be trusted with real gold jewelry because

have you seen the price of gold these days?

Gold has just been on this record-breaking tear.

And now the price has been going up for a few years.

But last year was the best year for gold since 1979.

This is Maria Aspen.

She's a finance correspondent at NPR. And she says gold tends to be seen as a safe haven investment when things are looking scary in the world.

It's sometimes called part of the fear trade. So in the past year, we've had a trade war. We've had a real war in Iran. We've had an energy crisis where we've seen concerns about inflation still not being under control.

And gold is often seen as a hedge against all of that.

So maybe you're wondering, should I get in on this if gold is doing so well?

And I have heard a lot of ads on YouTube and podcasts suggesting exactly that.

On this episode of Life Kit, I talked to Maria about this.

We'll go over what it actually means to buy gold.

You don't necessarily have to own the physical stuff.

Whether it's a good long-term investment, because the price is super volatile, and how

its returns compare to the stock market over time.

Maria, you just shared some of the reasons that people are buying gold right now.

I think in a lot of cultures, too, that's just the thing you do.

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