You can own the physical stuff, for example gold loose change. The CPI-U reached 219.96 in July 2008 (latest available) - a rise of over 30% since January 2500. So if the transitioning 1 job to the next or doing a 401k rollover/IRA, you can consider portioning some among the money to gold. Setting up a self-directed IRA with GoldStar skilled assistance.