A Dubai strategist lays out a full portfolio: 50% equities, metals, debt, themes, crypto.
Gold is insurance, not a trade right nowYogesh puts 10-15% in gold and silver ETFs and tells investors to stop seeing gold as a way of making money at the moment.
US exposure regardless of the bubble debateHe keeps 30% in the US, but only 10% in tech and 20% in quality, utilities and defensive sectors, because bubbles burst when people stop asking questions.
Risk management beats win rate in tradingEven 90 correct calls out of 100 lose money if one bad trade wipes out capital; a 1:2 risk-reward lets you be wrong 60% of the time and still profit.
Executive SummaryAI
Host Sharan visits Century Financials, one of Dubai's oldest investment consulting firms, to interview Yogesh, a global market strategist with more than 15 years of experience.
Taking Sharan as a 30-year-old client with a million dollars and a 60-70% savings rate, Yogesh puts 50% into equities: 30% to the US for its liquidity, 10% to India, and 10% to Central Europe, Japan and ASEAN markets such as Poland and Czech, which he says are up around 40-50% this year on deglobalisation and friend-shoring.
He allocates 10-15% to gold and silver ETFs and argues it is still worth buying after the rally, recalling gold at $600 during the 2008 crisis and $1,900 by 2012 after four rounds of quantitative easing, because gold is now portfolio insurance rather than a way to make money.
The remaining 35% splits into 15-20% debt (US treasuries and corporate bonds), 15% thematic ETFs covering space exploration, DNA sequencing, cybersecurity, drones and blockchain, and 4-5% in virtual assets such as Ethereum and Solana, which he notes is $130 a coin against $270 three months ago.
On trading with leverage he says the method matters more than the win rate: clarity about how much an instrument moves daily, diversification across uncorrelated assets, and a 1:2 risk-reward ratio that still nets a profit when 60% of trades lose.
Key Quote
“Bubble or no bubble, US exposure is important.”
— Yogesh
Key Quote
“So don't see gold as a way of making money at the moment. See it as a portfolio insurance.”
— Yogesh
Key Quote
“We have to understand the difference between a bubble crash and a market correction.”