Finding Your Way to Wealth: No One-Size-Fits-All

An investment strategy is a framework for you to go about putting money to work in markets. There are many valid strategies you can choose from—you can even make your own. It’s your money, after all.
Here’s a few you may have heard of.
Dollar cost averaging, or investing the same dollar amount over the same time interval, into index funds. A low-cost selection of the market of your choice over time, exposes your pile of money to the power of compounding returns.
What about residential property investment? Buy high-quality property using other people’s money (like the banks), create or wait for capital gains to occur, then borrow more to buy more until one day you sell what you need to retire debt.
Shares? Create your own business, buy a slice of someone else’s, or invest in publicly listed companies. Apply your intellect, buy good companies on sale, use the power of concentration—back the winners and aim for well above average.
Then there’s the wilder stuff—crypto, start-ups, Bitcoin, carbon credits, precious metals, even social media accounts. Try one, try them all—buy, hold, leverage, trade, or flip. Time the market, ride the waves, or hide in shelter. It’s your call. We (and I include myself in this) should avoid being so dogmatic with how we go about investing. No investment strategy is ‘good’ or ‘bad’; it’s only when mismatched with the wrong individual that it falters. There’s more than one way to build wealth—this isn’t a salvation issue. Want to trust your gut? Go for it. It’s your money.

Fundamentals vs. Technicals: Two Sides, Same Coin

I’m naturally a fundamentals type person. I start by learning the changing micro and macro variables—company financials, industry shifts, big-picture economic trends—then I imagine a picture of the future. Sounds a bit woo-woo saying it, but this is my strategy. It’s why I doubled down on leveraged residential property in 2015, Bitcoin in 2017, and gold in 2019. I’ve mostly always ignored the price during these times and exclusively focused on the macro-narratives. Property boomed as rates stayed low, Bitcoin surged on hype and adoption, and gold? Well, we’ll get to that in a minute.
So spare a thought for those who invest using the exact opposite strategy: the technical analysts. No GDP figures, inflation rates, or unemployment stats. Nothing to do with benchmark interest rates, technology breakthroughs, or geopolitics. Just patterns that prices make when mapped out on a chart—technical analysis. Market vibes, trends, cycles, and patterns in price and volume. They don’t care why the price moves, only how it’s moving. It’s a different beast, but it works for plenty of people. I’ve met traders who swear by it, and their bank accounts don’t lie.

A Season for Everything: Gold’s Big Moment

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8—yeah, the one quoted in that famous Byrds song—puts it best: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
There are seasons where certain investments are smarter to buy than others. Right now, gold’s hitting record highs. What’s that say about the economy we’re in? Inflation’s lurking, central banks are printing cash, and trust in fiat’s wobbling—my macro lens says gold’s shining for a reason. I jumped in back in 2019, riding that narrative wave. But not everyone plays it my way.
Take Gary Savage, an expert gold analyst and technical trader I spoke with last week. He ignores the narratives—doesn’t care about the why. He’s all about the charts, the cycles, the price action. While I’m piecing together global puzzles, he’s watching squiggles on a screen. And he’s damn good at it. Gold’s surge to all-time highs? He saw it coming. Patterns in tea leaves? Not quite, but patterns do guide him. It’s a reminder: you don’t have to fall in love with the asset class or the investment strategy if your objective is to grow wealth.

Timing, Tools, and You

There’s no right or wrong way to invest in my view—there are strategies that require time to learn, though. You’d be tempted to give it a go after listening to those who make it sound easy, but just remember that timing the market comes with a higher degree of uncertainty. Fundamentals got me into property, Bitcoin, and gold at the right moments—or lucky ones, depending on who’s judging. Technicals keep Gary ahead of the curve on gold today. Both work. Neither’s gospel.
So as you think about this, keep it in mind: you don’t need to marry an asset or a method. Use whatever framework works for you, or ideally reach out for advice to design a bespoke framework of your own. Gold’s screaming higher right now—economic warning or just another cycle? Maybe it’s both. Either way, it’s your money, your move. Pick a lane, test it, tweak it. Wealth’s out there if you’re willing to chase it.