"Gold is not for wealth creation but protection.." ======= But gold isn't protecting anyone and it doesn't have a dividend, the returns have been poor recently and the advent of digital money has certainly dented the gold trade.
Digging up larges swathes of the Earth for something that has no use isn't PC in the 2,000's, the populous are very litigious when it comes to big holes in the ground and lots of pollution.
Real estate is useful, it's been a great earner, people are leaving authoritarian regimes like China and Russia in droves and moving to the West, and I'm sure I don't need to remind Aussies about that. Where I live properties are being bought sight unseen offshore by non-resident nationals. Real estate purchases by non-locals was outlawed a few years ago to tame the prices, but it hasn't worked.
