So gold has basically doubled over the past couple of years. Pretty wild. Now the real question isn't just whether to hold it, but how—and that means thinking hard about three things: costs eat into returns faster than most people realize, taxes can be sneaky depending on where you are, and you need liquidity when you actually need it.

Are you buying physical bars and storing them in a vault? ETFs and trading them like stocks? Certificates through your broker? Each path has tradeoffs. Physical gives you that tangible feeling but storage and insurance pile on. Paper options are more liquid but come with their own fee structures. Worth mapping out your actual expenses before jumping in.