James Burns: We don’t regret ill-timed gold trade
Smith & Williamson MPS co-head says the precious metal ‘was never going to be a six-month trade’
At the start of the year, Smith & Williamson (S&W) added gold to its model portfolios on the basis that inflation was likely to move higher over the medium term. While admitting the timing of the trade could have been better, James Burns (pictured), co-head of the firm’s model portfolio service (MPS), says it was done with a long-term view.
“It’s obviously not been a fantastic investment so far,” says Burns. “But, like a lot of the themes in the portfolio, it’s in there for the longer term; it was never going to be a six-month trade.”