The more wheels that come off as the world de-levers, the more likely it is for the financial industry to sustain some serious damage and, when that happens, you never know what could happen next. Consequently, I would recommend the most conservative investors to buy gold bullion and store it somewhere safe, but to all those (and I am in that camp myself) who believe that the financial industry will survive as we know it today, buying synthetic gold (e.g. an ETF on gold) is most likely good enough.
