A: I don’t see buying gold as a substitute to cash – I am not in the “doomsayer” school who hold gold as a last resort. But I can see a case for gold as a defensive asset in lieu of more risky assets.

Importantly, there a number of ways to get exposure to gold. Buying gold shares is the riskiest and potentially the most rewarding because the companies are very leveraged to the gold price. A less risky way to hold gold is directly (you can hold the actual bullion with the Perth Mint), or indirectly (and the way I prefer) by investing in an exchange traded fund that holds gold bullion. GOLD (this is the ASX code) from ETF Securities is the best example.