When the economy turns weak, many people, including professional financial planners, look to gold as a safe haven. Laura McCue, president of Asheville’s White Oak Financial Management, believes gold is a great investment right now. “Gold tends to be a place where you can go when the dollar is falling,” she says. Since gold always has value, she believes investors can safely hold anywhere from ten to 30 percent of their portfolios in gold, which will put them in a good position if the dollar falls in value in the next five to ten years.

But at least a few Asheville-area financial planners disagree. Dawn Starks explains that, in a downturn, people get frustrated watching their stock portfolios fizzle, so they move their money from stocks into gold. But this usually means they’re selling stocks low and buying gold high, hoping to recoup some money—which is unlikely. “They are chasing their return, and this is never a good idea,” she says. Susan McGrath of the financial-planning firm Holcombe & McGrath agrees, adding that fluctuations in the price of gold are cyclical, making it a poor long-term investment. McGrath has noticed that investing in gold can make her clients feel safe, and of course, if the U.S. dollar was suddenly worthless, the people holding gold coins would certainly have short-term purchasing power. But Laura Webb, a certified financial planner who runs Webb Investment Services in Asheville, says people are often investing in gold when they have a doomsday focus. “If the world falls apart, you’ve got a hard commodity,” she says of gold investors. “I think that’s a pessimistic long-term outlook.”  —L.S.