Why gold fell when war broke out (and what that tells you)

**Jordan Eliseo** (0:00)
October 2008 was one of gold's worst months in 20 years.

**Alec** (0:04)
What are we getting wrong when we just talk about gold as this like general safe haven asset?

**Jordan Eliseo** (0:08)
The gold price almost tripled, but it had a big hiccup along the way.

**Bryce** (0:11)
How much of your portfolio is gold?

**Jordan Eliseo** (0:13)
Equity Mates!

**Bryce** (0:15)
Welcome to another episode of Equity Mates, a show where we explore what's possible in the world of investing. If you've joined us for the first time, a huge welcome to our community. My name is Bryce.

**Alec** (0:24)
And I'm Rene, and today we are talking all things gold.

**Bryce** (0:27)
They're really excited for this one we are joined by Jordan Eliseo, he's the General Manager at ABC Bullion. Now that name might ring a bell because in late 2025, early 2026, here in Sydney, it was the shop of the moment. There were lines out the door.

**Alec** (0:44)
Yeah, if you watch the news, that was where all the news cameras would go to like show the visual that there was a gold frenzy on. And my God, was there a frenzy. Gold and silver were both just rocketing higher. Since then, it's been a mixed bag. Well, it's been down.
And so we really wanted to understand what happened and what is happening in the gold price. Because a lot of people think gold is a safe haven asset. And if there was ever a time to flee to safety, it would be a time when inflation is picking up again. We have an oil crisis. We have an ongoing war in the Middle East, an ongoing war in Eastern Europe. And yet it's down.

**Bryce** (1:23)
It's down.

**Alec** (1:24)
So we're going to ask Jordan why.

**Bryce** (1:25)
We're going to ask him why. We're going to ask him how much gold is in his portfolio as well. A big thank you goes to ABC Bullion for supporting this episode and helping us keep all of our content here at Equity Mates free.

**Alec** (1:37)
If you want to learn more about ABC Bullion, head to abcbullion.com.au. They've just redone their website. And you can go there, sign up and trade precious metal markets 24-7.

**Bryce** (1:48)
Not only that, but ABC Bullion offers access to gold, silver, platinum and palladium products alongside investment solutions such as their Gold Saver and the Gold Decumulation Plan, designed to support long-term wealth preservation.

**Alec** (2:02)
Love it. Well, thanks to ABC Bullion for sponsoring this episode and helping us keep all of our content free. Now, before we get into it, we just want to remind everyone that whilst we are licensed, we're not aware of your personal financial circumstances. Any advice is general advice. If you want to speak to a financial professional, you can go to equitymates.com/advice, and we'll put you in touch. Equity Mates operates under Australian Financial Services license 540-697.

**Bryce** (2:25)
Well, with that said, let's get to our conversation with Jordan Eliseo. So we'll, we always start the interview with the same question for all of our experts, and it's to give us a bit of insight into your investment journey.

**Jordan Eliseo** (2:35)
Sure.

**Bryce** (2:35)
Can you tell us the story of your very first investment?

**Jordan Eliseo** (2:39)
Funnily enough, the very first investment I ever had was cows, freezing cows. So I grew up on a small farm in Adelaide, about 50 acres, both my parents were teachers, but they, we grew up on a small farm, so we had cows and sheep, and my dad was always pretty keen on teaching my brother and I the value of a dollar and the importance of investing.
So when we were quite young, we were buying some cattle and he got my brother and I to basically pay for a couple, to own a couple, and then sell them a few years later. I don't remember the exact dollars, but we did make a bit of money, although dad no doubt underwrote the investment for us, and made sure we came up out on top. But yeah, first ever investment was cows, and then I suppose as an adult, choosing my own portfolio or my own investments, it was actually in the tech stock space. So I'm in my late 40s now, so my formative experience as an adult investing was right at the height of the tech bubble back in 2000 Actually spent a bit of time working at BT Funds Management around that time, and they quite famously launched a product called the BT Time Fund, which I think the acronym stood for Technology Info Media and Entertainment. It was obviously launched to capture all this retail interest in tech stocks which had been booming for a few years, launched at almost the exact top of the market. Oh no. I think it lost 75 percent over the subsequent three years.