Asset of the Decade?

Lew Rockwell, noted market timer, has declared gold "The Best-Performing Asset of the Decade." While gold has performed well, it would have taken quite a bit quite a bit of conviction to commit assets to a shiny metal that costs you money to own and had lost nearly half of its nominal value over the prior 20 years during the great bull market.

It would have taken a similar amount of conviction to buy dull, boring, metal pipelines that had managed to lose value in 1999 in the height of the tech bull (and they aren't even shiny). An oil or natural gas pipeline, how decidedly "old economy." Little did the investors purchasing these assets know, when they should have been listening to Prince, they were entering the competition for the best performing asset of the decade. Whether, smart, lucky, wisely conservative, or with a perfect view of the coming bull market for commodities, the buyers of both assets did well.

All I know is, buying into a group of businesses that will pay you nearly 11% to own would have been a lot easier decision for me than buying a shiny thing that I have to pay to store. But what do I know?



Data through 10/13/2009 Source: Alerian Capital Management and Kitco.com