In this podcast, we turn our attention to gold, that most emotive of investment topics, derided by some as a “barbarous relic” and feted by others as a vital defence against inflation and the debasement of currency. Jonathan Davis is joined to discuss this always fascinating subject by the fund manager Charlie Morris, who in his day job, after 15 years at HSBC, now runs multi-asset portfolios for Newscape Capital and finds time to produce a regular free monthly commentary on gold called Atlas Pulse.

After a wild ride that has seen gold rise from $400 an ounce in 2000 to a peak of $1,900 in 2012, it is now back trading in the $1,250 to $1,300 range. Is that good or bad value? How much gold should investors have in their portfolios? What is the best way to invest in it? Where is the price headed next? These are all questions that we discuss in this podcast.

But we start with a more fundamental question. What is gold and how should investors set about thinking about it?