Most of what I see about holding physical gold is a hedge against inflation or global chaos, societal breakdown, wide spread natural catastrophes, etc. If things were that bad I don't see where the advantage would be. The downside I see, other than what has already been mentioned, is finding someone wanting to trade for food that would be the most important commodity. Why would they want to diminish their food supplies for their survival. I would think a hidden supply of dried beans and rice for personal use would be more valuable.
If the gold were in the form of a stock, MF, or ETF I would think the market would have ceased to exist and there goes your access to your gold shares. Cash would probably be almost useless by then too.
Owning a little physical gold would be more like owning gem stones or other PMs - pretty to look at but not digestible.
Since I have limited years and had a good run I would just as soon call it a day in the event the world has one foot in the toilet.
With due respect, you are making the classical "straw man" argument that there are only two situations: Good times or Armageddon. So far, we've never experienced Armageddon, but we have experienced (well, maybe not personally, but as human beings) things like WWII, the Great Depression, powerful nations "reconstructing" less powerful nations with new boundaries and sometimes new names, regional conflicts with "ethnic cleansing" and other "disasters" that were NOT the end of the wold and that were, for the most part, survivable by humanity in general, though not always survivable by all those affected.
You're point is well taken that PM's can't be eaten, but gold has been used to bribe one's way out of a really bad situation. PMs have, indeed been used to buy dear goods under black market situations, and PMs HAVE (sometimes, perhaps often, but not always) preserved wealth - especially during times of high inflation.
But less dramatically, PMs have been shown to correlate very negatively with both equities and fixed income. I can't give a citation but I have often seen treatises of general financial strategy in which a 3 to 5% commitment to PMs in a portfolio beat the more normal XX/YY equity/bond portfolio. If interested I'm sure you can find citations.
I have no "dog" in the hunt and would never suggest that anyone "should" invest in PMs. I've found them useful in my portfolio - especially back in the Great Recession.
Here is a site (yes, it is biased so take with at least 2 grains of salt) that show some data about performance of PMs during recession. Believe or don't at your discretion. I present only as one side of the argument (the OTHER side in this case).
Recessions have a history that holds precious insights for metal investors. Knowing how these metals have done in economic downturns is key for those wanting
www.mfea.com
