Gold hitting record highs

The price of gold keeps heating up. If the record-breaking year of 2024 wasn't enough, gold hit a major historic 2025 milestone by crossing the $3,000/ounce threshold!

Here are 3 Key Reasons:

1. Looming economic & political uncertainty

2. Increasing central bank demand

3. Rising National Debt - over $36 Trillion

So, could gold surge even higher?

According to a recent statement from Jeffrey Gundlach, famed American business man and investor… “Gold continues its bull market that we’ve been talking about for a couple of years, ever since it was down to $1,800.” He expects gold to reach $4,000/oz.

Is it time you learn more about precious metals?

Get all the answers in your free 2025 Gold & Silver Kit. Plus, if you request your free kit today, you could qualify for up to 10% Instant Match in Bonus Silver*.

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_{*Offer valid on qualified orders of Goldco premium products only. Receive up to 10% in free silver based on purchase amount; cannot be combined with other offers. Additional terms apply—see your customer agreement or contact your representative for details.}

THIS WEEK’S BREAKDOWN

The 60/40 Portfolio Is Dead—What’s Replacing It?

Once upon a time, the 60/40 portfolio was king.

For decades, it was the go-to for investors who wanted a balance of risk and reward: 60% in stocks for growth, 40% in bonds for stability. Built on the idea that when stocks zig, bonds zag, this strategy offered decent long-term returns and protected you during downturns.

But here’s the truth in 2025: that zig-zag is broken—and anyone clinging to the 60/40 model is getting wrecked by markets that have changed forever.

When everything falls at once, diversification fails.

🚫 No Safety Net Left: Why the 60/40 Model is Outdated

In theory, bonds should act as a counterweight to stocks. But over the last few years, especially in 2022, both asset classes crashed together. According to Vanguard, the traditional 60/40 portfolio returned -16.9% in 2022, marking its worst performance in nearly 100 years.

Why is this happening?

• Interest rates have surged from near-zero to multi-decade highs.

• Inflation destroyed fixed income returns.

• Global central banks are tightening, not easing.

• Correlations between stocks and bonds are rising, meaning they now move together more often.

In short, relying on bonds to “protect” you no longer works like it used to. The diversification benefit is diluted. You’re not hedged. You’re exposed—and in a low-growth environment, that’s dangerous.

Gold. Tech. One smart switch at a time

⚙️ Strategy Spotlight: GLD-Tech Rotation

The GLD-Tech Rotation strategy is a fully automated, rules-based approach that flips the script on outdated diversification. By dynamically shifting between TQQQ (3x leveraged tech) and GLD (gold), this strategy capitalizes on momentum while managing risk with built-in volatility filters.

Here’s what makes it stand out:
• Daily adaptive rotation between tech and gold based on recent outperformance
• Uses Bollinger Bands to reduce tail risk when volatility spikes
• 135%+ total return since inception—outpacing the S&P 500
• 100% automated, rebalancing daily so you don’t have to guess what’s next

If your old portfolio is stuck in neutral, this strategy offers a data-driven way to tap into two opposing market forces—innovation and preservation—without manually managing a thing.

Your portfolio should adjust to the market. Most don’t.

🔄 Out With Static, In With Dynamic

The biggest flaw of 60/40 is that it's static. Once the allocation is set, most investors just rebalance every so often and hope it works out.

But in today’s macro environment, we need portfolios that adjust dynamically. Think about what’s changed:

• We now have access to real-time market data and predictive indicators.

• We can model thousands of investment strategies using quantitative backtesting.

• We can automate decision-making using rules-based systems that don’t rely on emotion.

The new investing paradigm isn’t about guessing what will outperform—it’s about using systems that are programmed to adapt.

This is where strategy automation comes in.

You don’t need to be a hedge fund to use hedge-fund tools.

🤖 Strategy Automation: Investing Like a Quant, Without the Math Degree

Quantitative investing, once exclusive to elite Wall Street firms, is now available to retail investors through platforms like Surmount.

Here’s how it works:

• You choose from a library of tested, rules-based strategies built by experienced quant developers.

• Each strategy is backed by historical performance, including drawdowns, Sharpe ratios, and win rates.

• You connect your brokerage account (or deposit funds into a Surmount internal account — coming soon!) and the strategy automatically executes trades for you based on its algorithmic logic.

And unlike an old-school portfolio, these strategies can rotate between:

• Different sectors (Tech vs Energy)

• Different asset classes (Equity, Commodities, Bonds)

• Long and short positions (hedging during downturns)

💡 Real-world example: One Surmount strategy rotated out of tech and into energy in late 2021 based on momentum signals, avoiding a major drawdown in the Nasdaq. Another added short exposure during early 2022 as macro volatility exploded. These types of decisions happen automatically—no panic-selling required.

Why pay 1% to get put in a pre-built model portfolio?

💀 Financial Advisors Are Still Selling the Past

Let’s be blunt: the average financial advisor is not managing your money—they’re selling you an off-the-shelf allocation that hasn’t evolved since 2005.

You’re likely paying 1% or more annually for:

• A call once a year

• A pie chart with your “moderate risk tolerance” mapped to a template

• Access to high-fee mutual funds or passive ETFs you could’ve bought yourself

In fact, a Cerulli Associates study found that over 80% of advisors use model portfolios for most of their clients. That’s not personalization—that’s a dressed-up robo-advisor.

Platforms like Surmount eliminate the middleman. You pick a strategy, you stay in control, and the cost is transparent and low. It’s modern investing for people who actually care about performance.

True diversification means different return streams—not just different assets.

📈 Real Diversification: It’s Not Just About Owning More Stuff

One of the most misunderstood concepts in investing is diversification.

Too often, it’s interpreted as “own some of everything.” But that’s not diversification—it’s diworsification.

Real diversification means spreading your capital across uncorrelated strategies, not just asset classes. Think:

• Momentum vs. value

• Trend-following vs. mean reversion

• Long-only vs. long/short

• High-frequency vs. swing-based

The goal is to combine systems that perform well in different environments—so when one zigs, another really does zag. That’s the future of portfolio construction, and it’s exactly what platforms like Surmount are designed for.

🧠 What Smart Investors Are Doing in 2025

If you're an investor in 2025, here’s the truth: you’re not just buying stocks and bonds anymore. You’re buying ideas, systems, and edge.

What’s replacing the 60/40 portfolio isn’t a new split of ETFs—it’s a new philosophy:

• Automated execution

• Rules-based logic

• Data-driven allocation

• Dynamic risk management

This is the mindset that wins in a world where markets move faster than ever and macro shifts happen overnight.

You don’t need to predict the future, you just need to be positioned for it.