Since the beginning of the year, at least a dozen clients have asked me whether it’s the right time to buy gold or buy into the energy sector.  Both are good questions.

Let’s look at gold first.  As I write this, gold is trading at $1,220 an ounce.  In 2008 it was trading at $850 an ounce and by September 2011 it hit a high of $1,921 an ounce.  If you bought and sold at the right time, you could say you made a mint…or you struck gold!

Here’s the tricky part.  Since 2011, gold has dropped from $1,921 oz. to today’s price of $1,220 oz.  So…will gold go up or down from here?  Good question and one to which I have no answers.  Blame it on the cloudy crystal ball from Amazon.

Let’s look at energy.  This one is a little trickier, mainly because there are so many different ways to invest in the energy sector.  There’s oil, natural gas, coal, fracking, infrastructure, nuclear, drilling, pipelines…  You get the idea.

One area that has held up pretty well are the “master limited partnerships”, also called MLPs.  Brookstone Capital Management just announced that they will soon be offering a strategy centered around these MLPs.  Once we have more info, I’ll be sure to share.

Will the price of oil rise back up to $100 a barrel or will it skid into the 20s?  It’s funny because there really is no consensus from the market experts.  On any given day I can pick up a business publication or look around online and find compelling columns on both sides of the argument.  Time will tell, so enjoy the lower gas prices while you can.