The slumbering dollar bears have come out of hibernation. The U.S. dollar has roared back to life in recent months, climbing a solid 10% since its February low.

In the most simplified terms, that means the dollar bill in your pocket is now worth $1.10.

Your $1.00 bill can now buy 10 cents more than it did six months ago. Hint: If you are thinking of traveling abroad, you’ll likely get more bang for your buck now than in February.

Why is the U.S. dollar climbing?

The world of foreign currency trading is a zero-sum game.

That means for every winner, there is a loser.

Right now, the U.S. dollar has roared back to dominance on the world stage. The U.S. economy looks better than economies of many other G-10 nations, so that tilts favor toward the dollar. When the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates that also strengthens the dollar.

Bullish interest rate differentials

Global money managers compare official interest rates that are attached to each currency.

Essentially, the Fed is “paying” investors more to hold the dollar. The Fed’s official interest rate currently stands at 2.00%, while the European Central Bank’s interest rate stands at zero percent.

If you are a foreign investor with some money to park someplace, which would you choose? A savings account that pays zero? Or a savings account that pays 2%.

Two percent may not sound like much. Yet, a whopping $5.3 trillion dollars trades each day in the forex markets, according to the Bank for International Settlements. Two percent can add up quick on big money.

What does this mean for gold?

Gold is priced in U.S. dollars on the world marketplace. As the dollar strengthens that typically pushes the “price” of gold lower. There tends to be an inverse correlation.

If you’ve been waiting to buy physical gold, consider this.

When the U.S. dollar is gaining in the world markets, consumers are gaining purchasing power.

The flip side is true as well. When the dollar is weakening, consumers are losing purchasing power.

In essence, the stronger dollar means you can buy 10% more gold right now!

If you’ve been waiting for the “right time” to buy gold, this is it. Don’t delay.

Beware: Cycles Change

While the dollar is strong now, that hasn’t always been the case.

From 2001 to the 2008 low, the U.S. dollar index plunged 26%. That’s a huge move, and a massive decrease in purchasing power for American consumers.

The value of paper money rises and fall, especially as central banks have flooded the world’s money supply in recent years. When the U.S. dollar declines in value that means you can purchase less with it.

Right now, you’ve got a chance to buy more with the mighty dollar!

Gold is the world’s first currency and can help maintain the true purchasing power of your assets that are held in bullion and coins.

See how gold much your dollars will buy now

1 Oz American Gold Eagle Coin

1 Oz American Silver Eagle Coin

We think you’ll be surprised.

Don’t worry about a financial doomsday, if it comes you’ll be sipping iced tea on the beach. Science proves it.

A chain of record-breaking gains in the equity market has made investors nervous. They’re asking “how much longer will this last?” In 2017 the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw 70 record closings. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 hit 69 record closes in the year.

In January of this year, the Dow surged 322 points to close above 26,000 for the first time. Investors are fearful that Newton was right. What goes up must come down. Way down. While no one can accurately predict the next crash or correction, most agree that stocks will come back to Earth. After all, we’re 10 years into the bull market.

So how does an investor reliably shield themselves? Researchers have learned that “empirical results show that gold is a safe haven for stocks.”

Their research shows that gold functions as a safe haven for approximately 15 days. Any seasoned investor knows how much can happen in 15 days. In fact, it took only one day for the Dow to fall more than 22% in 1987. However, for gold to behave as a true haven during periods of turmoil in the stock market, investors must remember a few essential rules.

They found that investors who “purchase gold only after an extreme negative shock occurred” didn’t receive any of the protection they needed. Buying late in the game only decreases the portfolio’s value.

Part of the researchers’ inspiration stems from prospect theory. The idea, created and developed by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, argues that people value losses and gains in different ways. For this reason, the theory is sometimes called “loss-aversion.” The theory suggests that people will make different decisions about where to invest based on how that investment’s performance is presented.

If the investment is presented in a way that highlights periods of decline, then most avoid it. If the same performance is described with language highlighting the periods of positive performance, most investors will jump in.

Humans are tuned to how others “spin” it.  

During a boom period for equities, investors see plenty of positive spin. They see record-breaking years like 2017. They perceive the probability of a gain as something greater than what is really presented.

The study illustrates not only gold’s power but also the psychological biases governing our decisions. The more investors become aware of these biases, the more they can do to counteract them. These findings are significant for long-term investors because after a major negative stock return “the figures show a relatively constant gold price.”

You can’t control the market, but you can control your exposure to downside risk with safe-haven assets like gold held over the long-term. “The key characteristic of a safe haven asset is the fact that it is effective in extreme market conditions in contrast to a hedge that is only effective on average but not necessarily in times of market turmoil,” write the researchers.

Get that iced tea ready!

Despite surging GDP growth and a strong employment picture, some analysts are starting to feel a little “flat.”

The yield curve is the yield spread between long-term and short-term U.S. Treasury bonds. This graphed line has long been a popular economic indicator. Today, the curve is starting to flatten, and that has some worried. The reason: a flat yield curve brings us closer to an inverted yield curve, which, historically, has been followed by a recession.

The pattern unfolded during the dot com bust of 2000 and again during the global financial crisis starting in 2008. Financial forecasters call this “economic deceleration.” The rest of us call it “hard times.”

One fact is clear; the curve is not invented yet. It’s starting to get closer to that position, but for now, we aren’t there. The bending, and flexing of the curve has implications for gold investors because “investors have generally benefited from holding gold during periods of economic deceleration,” according to The World Gold Council.

However, some, like those at Morgan Stanley, are taking a contrarian position and explaining that the flattening curve “sends a weaker predictive signal about the future state of the U.S. economy than it has in the past. They continue, explaining that “we’re not worried about an impending recession since we believe that today the slope of the yield curve sends a weaker signal and it would therefore take more flattening than ordinary to have the same impact on future growth than it had in the past.”

Even if the “danger” signal isn’t blinking yet, gold investors may want to take note because historically, gold has experienced an upswing in value during periods of rising inflation. Recently, inflation has ascended to target levels with the US hovering around 2.5 percent and the Eurozone at about 1.9 percent. This upward movement has been long in coming. In recent years inflation has remained stubbornly low.

The World Gold Council suggests that recent decreases in gold’s value might increase customer demand given that lower prices support jewelry purchases. Simultaneously, they illustrate a historical seasonality to gold as illustrated by softer demand and diminished trading in the summer months with a clear uptick in September. This data, coupled with rising concerns of an inverted yield curve, might leave gold enthusiasts positioned for a window of opportunity.

As always, the appropriate plan is one with a long-term perspective. Whichever way the yield curve bends, gold has a place as a diversifier in any portfolio. Moreover, as future expectations for long-term equity returns start to cool, investors will need new ways to find growth. Consider that in the most recent, incomplete cycle, equities have returned only 5% annually, and “JPMorgan predicts returns of 3.3% for the S&P 500 over the next decade,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Part of the reason for this tepid outlook is the currently high valuations. Companies will need to boost their already strong performance to validate and surpass these valuations. The yield curve, seasonality, and easing equity returns all give investors reason to consider gold.