It’s been quite the year for gold. The price of the precious metal started 2024 at just over $2,000 an ounce, but gold prices quickly climbed higher — breaking records as the price surpassed $2,400, $2,500, $2,600, and then, in mid-October, $2,700 per ounce.

The price has moderated a bit in the time since, falling back below $2,700 per ounce, but remains high overall. And there are plenty of reasons behind the recent run-up, with geopolitical tensions and high inflation driving consumers to safe-haven assets chief among them. Quickly rising prices have also enticed investors looking for solid returns.

Are you one of the many who have invested in gold this year? If not, there’s still time — and good reason — to do so. 

Learn how to get started with gold investing today.

3 reasons to invest in gold this holiday season

Here’s why experts say you may want to buy some this holiday season.

It protects against future inflation and recessions

According to Eric Elkins, CEO of financial consulting firm Double E, you should consider investing in gold in a recession — or even if one is just expected. 

“If you believe today or in the future, we are nearing a recession or depression then consider gold as a possible option to plant your money,” Elkins recently told CBS News. “Gold historically has done very well when the U.S. had economic turmoil.”

J.P. Morgan currently estimates there’s a 45% chance of a recession by the end of 2025. And the worse that recession is, “the better gold will do,” says Michael Chadwick, president of Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management. 

“Buying gold pre-recession is very smart,” Chadwick says.

Find out more about the benefits of gold investing here.

It can diversify your portfolio

You may have heard the old adage about putting all your eggs in one basket. Well, the same is true in the investment space. Putting the majority of your money into one asset class is dangerous. If you do that, all it takes is one market downturn for your portfolio to drop a significant amount.

A better approach is to diversify your portfolio with a variety of assets so that when one falls, you have other, still-performing investments to balance it out. Gold is “the asset” when it comes to true portfolio diversification, according to James Cordier, head trader at Alternative Options. 

“It adds exposure and diversification to an asset that is not directly correlated to the stock market,” says Christopher Mediate, president of Mediate Financial. “It can be a great hedge against volatility.”

Waiting may cost you more

If investing in some for its safe-haven or diversification benefits is on your agenda, buying sooner rather than later might be wise.

While the future trajectory of gold prices is hard to pin down, some experts predict gold prices could surpass $3,000 per ounce in the coming months. So the investors who wait to buy in? They risk being “priced out,” says Keith Weiner, CEO and founder of Monetary Metals.

“If you choose to wait for a price drop, you might wait a long time and not get it,” Weiner says.

The bottom line

If you’re ready to invest in gold this holiday season, there are lots of ways to do it. You can buy gold bars and coins if you want to own physical gold, purchase gold stocks and ETFs, or open a gold IRA, which offers a tax-advantaged way to invest in gold and save for retirement.

Talk to an investment professional or financial planner if you’re not sure of the best way to invest in gold for your goals and budget.

A so-called “doomsday fish” has washed up on a Southern California beach — typically an extremely rare occurrence, but this is the second time this year it has happened. The rare oarfish found on Grandview Beach in Encinitas measured roughly 9 to 10 feet and was spotted by a doctoral candidate at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the school wrote on social media.

The doomsday fish got its name because it looks like a mythical sea creature, with a long, ribbon-shaped body that can grow up to 30 feet, according to Ocean Conservancy.

After doctoral candidate Alison Laferriere found the odd-looking fish — which resembles a larger-than-normal eel with a monstrous face — Ben Frable, manager of the Scripps Oceanography Marine Vertebrate Collection, contacted the NOAA Fisheries Service team to bring the animal to its Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

This oarfish is smaller than the one found in La Jolla in August 2024. Researchers are not yet sure why the rare fish has washed up on California beaches recently, and there have been few studies on the species. 

Only 20 oarfish have washed up in California since 1901, according to the Scripps Institute. And these deep-sea dwellers usually only come ashore when they are sick, dying or disoriented, Ocean Conservatory says.

“It may have to do with changes in ocean conditions and increased numbers of oarfish off our coast,” Frable said, according to the institute’s social media post. “Many researchers have suggested this as to why deep-water fish strand on beaches. Sometimes it may be linked to broader shifts such as the El Niño and La Niña cycle but this is not always the case. There was a weak El Niño earlier this year. This wash-up coincided with the recent red tide and Santa Ana winds last week but many variables could lead to these strandings.”

The researchers at Scripps took samples and froze the specimen to further study the oarfish and its biology, anatomy, geonomics and history, according to Frable. 

In a comment on the post, the institute cleared up a myth surrounding doomsday fish. “There have been many questions and comments about the connection between oarfish and earthquakes,” the comment states. “While oarfish have a mythical reputation as predictors of natural disasters and earthquakes, experts have debunked this as folklore. A 2019 study found no correlation between oarfish or ribbonfish strandings and earthquakes in Japan.”

The aforementioned study, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, looked at reports of oarfish and slender ribbonfish in Japanese newspapers. Japanese folklore says the appearance of these fish means an earthquake is coming, but the researchers found there was hardly a relationship between these fish and the occurrence of earthquakes and that newspapers likely reported the fish sightings “because rare appearances might attract readers,” according to the study. 

Oarfish typically live in the mesopelagic zone — the area of the ocean least explored by scientists. They float vertically through waters 3,280 feet deep, where there is little light. Their silvery, reflective bodies help them blend in if they do hit patches of light, according to the conservatory.