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Buying gold can be a good way to diversify your portfolio, especially if you want to hedge against inflation and stock market uncertainty. However, making a few beginner mistakes when investing in gold can introduce unnecessary risk and potentially hurt your long-term returns.
For instance, some retirees may regret investing too much money into gold too quickly.

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This mistake and others are easy to avoid. Read on for the mistakes you should look out for and how to avoid them.
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Mistakes around timing, allocation and more
While adding precious metals to your portfolio comes with benefits, it’s important to understand both the pros and cons before investing. You should also ensure buying gold aligns with your risk tolerance, goals and time horizon.
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As you get started, here are 10 mistakes to avoid:

Going all in after a scary headline: The stock market is filled with short-term noise, and it’s important to stay focused on the long-term picture. Headlines can make investors more prone to emotional decisions that hurt their long-term returns.
Buying too much too fast: You don’t have to get all your exposure to gold right away. Gradually building your position over time and setting limits on how much gold to include in your portfolio can make investors less susceptible to this mistake.
Ignoring how gold fits the overall plan: Gold is just a small piece of a portfolio that typically shouldn’t take up more than 5-10% of your overall assets. Investors can speak with fiduciary advisors if they aren’t sure how much gold should be in their portfolios.
Selling too much gold during a bull market: While gold can act as a valuable hedge, there are some instances when the S&P 500 will rally and outpace gold. That’s not a good time to sell gold and put it into the stock market. Gold is meant to recession-proof your portfolio instead of maximizing returns. It’s natural for gold to fall behind the stock market during some cycles, but that usually doesn’t warrant exiting gold completely.
Choosing high-pressure sales outfits: A gold seller shouldn’t include an artificial deadline in the sales pitch or aggressively prompt you to buy gold. Research gold providers before buying from them.
Not understanding fee structures: Gold individual retirement accounts (IRAs) can have excessive fees that make it more beneficial to use a traditional IRA and buy shares of a gold exchange-traded fund (ETF) instead. Before committing to any gold provider, check their fee schedule so you know the costs.
Buying collectible coins: Gold investing can be complicated — and purchasing collectible gold coins can add to the complexity. There are plenty of variables that determine the value of these coins. It’s often simpler to buy grams or ounces of gold or opt for a gold ETF instead of physical gold.
Storing large amounts at home without security: It’s possible for gold at home to be lost, stolen or damaged.
Losing key documentation: Losing vital records about gold can cause potential buyers to question its authenticity when you want to sell it. Investors should organize their documents so they can verify that any piece of gold is legitimate.
Misunderstanding IRA rules: Not only do gold IRAs often have high fees, but they also have different rules around storage. You are not allowed to store physical gold that is part of an IRA in your home, for instance. Be sure your fully understand the IRS’ rules before investing.

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Long-term US funds had another superb month in February, bringing in over $150 billion, second only to March 2021 in the past 15 years. The past three months of inflows have been the largest since March 2021, with taxable-bond funds continuing to lead the charge. In February, they were responsible for more than half the month’s inflows. International-equity funds also had a strong month, with their largest monthly intake since 2018.Bond Funds’ Streak Continues With Another Massive Month​Taxable-bond funds built off last month’s record inflows with another strong month, gathering nearly $85 billion in new assets in February. The past two months of inflows were the two largest figures for taxable-bond funds over the past five years, hinting at investors’ conservatism amid artificial intelligence fears, geopolitical tension, and high equity valuations. Overall, 24 of 27 taxable-bond Morningstar Categories saw inflows. Investors also continued to diversify geographically, with global-bond USD-hedged funds bringing in over $10 billion, their largest monthly inflows in over a decade.Investors Eye Corporate Bonds as Spreads Widen​Corporate bond funds, which primarily comprise investment-grade corporate debt, collected $8 billion in February, their largest monthly figure since June 2020; wider spreads may be why. High corporate issuance in February contributed to a higher supply relative to demand and, thus, wider corporate bond spreads. AI fears and geopolitical tensions may have also played a role. After a few years of spread tightening, investors may have jumped at the opportunity as corporate fundamentals generally remained strong and large-cap margins were near all-time highs.Large-Value US Equity Funds Post Rare Inflows in FebruaryAmid wider US equity outflows in February of $4.6 billion, large-value funds posted a $7.5 billion inflow, just their eighth (and largest) monthly net increase in the past three years. The category still played second fiddle to its larger sibling, large-blend, which gathered a humdrum (for it) $10.6 billion. Meanwhile, investors fled growth funds to the tune of nearly $22 billion, led by a large-growth exodus of more than $18 billion. A short-term performance disparity, with value stocks outpacing growth stocks by about 12 percentage points in the first two months of 2026, may have sparked interest.Investors in Love With International Equity in FebruaryInternational-equity funds’ monthly inflow streak extended to 10 in February, with the group’s largest inflow in three years at $33 billion. It edged January’s $31 billion gathering for the title. These gains followed a string of strong performances, with the Morningstar Global Markets Ex-US Index’s trailing one-year return topping 40% in February. Diversified emerging markets led categories, with a $9.5 billion intake.Industrials Continue to Lead Sector-Equity Fund FlowsIndustrials funds attracted more than $5 billion in February, again taking the flows crown among sector-equity funds. They’ve attracted nearly $24 billion over the past year, with a combined $10 billion going into two aerospace and defense funds. The broader sector-equity group enjoyed inflows of nearly $10 billion in February, helped by strong flows to equity energy, natural resources, technology, and infrastructure. Meanwhile, financial funds saw more than $5 billion deducted, their largest outflows since May 2022. This article is adapted from the Morningstar Direct US Asset Flows Commentary for February 2026. Download the full report here.

For Federal Reserve policymakers, the Iran War creates a familiar but uncomfortable dilemma: inflation risks driven by energy shocks at the same time economic growth may be weakening.If oil prices remain elevated and supply disruptions persist, Fed officials could find themselves with few viable options: holding interest rates higher to contain prices even as the job market softens.The updated forecasts or “dot plot” released after the March 17-18 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee may offer the clearest signal yet of how top Fed officials expect to navigate the economic conflict across the Middle East.Hotter core PCE inflation and weaker GDP growth has revived worries about a stagflationary mix of slowing growth and persistent price pressures, which in turn has raised concerns of interest-rate hikes in 2026.The Market Probability Tracker from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is showing a 19.82 probability of a 25 basis pointrate hike later this year — a sharp contrast from the FOMC December “dot plot” which showed a median forecast of two 25 basis point cuts in 2026.“The Fed is leaning toward policy ease. That’s the big picture,” Vincent Reinhart, a former senior Fed adviser who is now chief economist at BNY Investments told The Wall Street Journal March 17. “But they’re not going to cut rates until they’re sure inflation is durably lower,’’ Reinhart said.What the Fed dual mandate requires for jobs, pricesThe Fed’s dual congressional mandate requires it to balance full employment and price stability.Lower interest rates support hiring but can fuel inflation.Higher rates cool prices but can weaken the job market.The two goals often conflict, operate on different timelines and are influenced by unpredictable global events like pandemics and wars. More Federal Reserve:Fed Chair Powell sends frustrating message on future interest-rate cutsThe CME Group FedWatch Tool reports an over 99% probability that the FOMC will hold rates steady March 19. It has also pushed out the likelihood of the next Fed rate cut of 25 basis points to December to only 41%.FOMC paused rate cuts in JanuaryThe FOMC voted 10-2 to hold interest rates steady at 3.50% to 3.75% in January after three continuous cuts of 25 basis points in its last three meetings of 2025.Those cuts were based on data showing increasing weakening in the labor market and cooling inflation, although still sticky and tariff-laced.Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters after the December meeting that the economy was settling into a neutral range.A neutral range for economists means monetary policy is neither stimulating nor restricting economic growth.It was the FOMC’s first pause since July 2025.As I reported following the December meeting, Powell hinted that the Fed had now done enough to bolster the threat to employment while leaving rates high enough to continue weighing on price pressures.“A world where job creation is negative, I think we need to watch that situation really carefully, and make sure we’re not pushing down on job creation” with monetary policy, he said.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York via FRED®

Fed to release latest “dot plot” this weekThe Fed’s “Summary of Economic Projections” provides its estimates of inflation, unemployment, and economic output, in addition to estimates of interest rates that officials see as most appropriate policy over a three-year horizon. The interest rate estimates, also known as the Fed’s “dot plot,” are closely watched on Wall Street for insight into the central bank’s thinking and plans.The SEP is a quarterly report from all 19 Fed officials, including the 12 voting members of the FOMC.It measures several key economic variables including:Real Gross Domestic Product Growth. Recently revised GDP came in at 0.7% for Q4 2025, a sharp slowdown from 4.4% growth in Q3 2025.Unemployment Rate. This was recently reported higher than expected at 4.4% following a disappointing February payroll report.Inflation. Includes both projections for Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation and core PCE inflation excluding food and energy. January PCE came in at 2.9% year-over-year, above the Fed’s 2% annual target.“Small businesses are entering this FOMC meeting in a holding pattern,’’ Andy Bregenzer, Head of U.S. Regional and Small Business Banking and Co-Head of Commercial Bank at TD Bank, told TheStreet. “After two years of elevated borrowing costs, many entrepreneurs have adapted, but the reality is that higher interest rates continue to influence how and when they invest in growth.’’Bregenzer said small business owners will be listening closely for signals about the policy path ahead. “They remain cautiously optimistic and ready to take advantage of opportunities,’’ he said.The Fed makes data-driven decisionsThe Fed uses government and private data sources to drive monetary policy decisions, a rear-view mirror approach often criticized as being too restrictive. Those critics, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to be the next Fed chair, advocate use of more advanced models including AI to set interest rates.How the Federal Funds Rate affects youThe benchmark Federal Funds Rate impacts nearly all Americans.That’s because it guides interest rates for auto and student loans, home-equity loans and credit cards. It also impacts the 10-year Treasury bond which in turn affects mortgage rates in the stagnant housing market.Related: Former Fed insiders issue stark warning on U.S. economyBillions of dollars in taxpayer money — primarily from individual tax returns and payroll taxes — pay the interest on the nation’s $38.9 trillion debt. For consumers, a delayed rate cut could mean higher borrowing costs during an affordability crisis causing many Americans to scramble to pay energy, grocery, shelter and healthcare bills in a “low-hire, low-fire” labor market.Fed faced risks to both sides of its mandate prior to Iran WarEven before the outbreak of the Iran War, the Fed faced a dilemma from worrisome risks to both sides of its congressional mandate: jobs and inflation.Prior to the release of the latest inflation and GDP figures for January and February, Fed officials displayed a divisive outlook on 2026 interest-rate cuts.Some top Fed officials, including Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, said the annual rate of inflation is still too high to support cutting rates in the short term.Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said additional rate cuts are possible this year if inflation tamed.Fed Governor Stephen Miran called for four cuts of 25 basis points in 2026 to support the labor market and stimulate productivity.Fed Governor Christopher Waller cited risks to both sides of the Fed’s mandate and said it would be a “coin toss” as to whether he would vote for a rate pause this month.Trump continued to criticize the Fed and Powell for not lowering rates to 1% or lower, posting March 12 on TruthSocial:”Where is the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, today? He should be dropping Interest Rates, IMMEDIATELY, not waiting for the next meeting!”Traders, analysts revise 2026 rate-cut outlooks Traders fear the war in Iran will drive up inflation and drag down the job market, threatening both sides of the Fed’s mandate.Goldman Sachs pushed back its forecast for the central bank’s rate cuts, and now expects 25 basis-point cuts in ‌September and December, citing rising inflation risks linked to the Iran War. Goldman previously projected the easing cycle to begin in ​June, followed by another reduction in September.High Frequency Economics Chief Economist Carl Weinberg offered a more hawkish approach, saying the Fed should consider a rate hike at its March 17-18 meeting to push back oil-shock inflation rising — by his outlook — to 3.5% by summer.“You’ve got so much uncertainty, and you’ve got these cross currents that basically point in different directions in terms of the appropriate stance for monetary policy, so there’s a really good case for sitting tight and waiting to see what the dominant forces are in terms of the labor market and inflation,” Karen Dynan, a professor at Harvard who was the chief economist at the Treasury Department during the Obama administration, told The New York Times March 17.Related: Looming Fed meeting shifts bets for 2026 interest-rate cuts

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Why we love this dealYou don’t have to have a green thumb to be good at gardening, and with the right tools and instructions, anyone can create a blossoming patch of greenery. With the weather finally warming up, now is the chance to get outside and start planting your favorite flowers, fruits, vegetables, spices, and more so that by the time summer rolls around, your garden is overflowing with vibrant colors, lush plants, and delicious crops prime for picking. With the right tools and a little instruction, you can move from purchasing your favorite plants and produce at the store to growing it yourself, and while it’s daunting getting acclimated to anything new — even a low stakes hobby like gardening — there are lots of pre-assembled sets of tools ready to purchase to make starting so much easier. The Craft911 Growit 23-Piece Gardening Tools Set is 14% off at Amazon, which might not sound like a huge discount compared to some of the other ones we’ve covered, but it means you can get 23 gardening tools for just $24 — that’s a little over a $1 a tool each. Craft911 Growit 23-Piece Gardening Tools Set, $24 (was $28) at Amazon

Courtesy of Amazon

Why do shoppers love it?This gardening tool set takes the work away from you when you’re trying to decide what is worth spending your money on. With this pre-assembled set, you don’t have to do the hard work of selecting each individual one. The full 23-piece set comes in a canvas bag with multiple pockets for storage and organizational purposes, and measures 12.44 inches long, 3.39 inches wide, and 3.15 inches high. With your purchase, you receive a spray bottle, shovel, crack weeder, hand rake, weeder, pruner, hand gloves, 15 plant tags and the canvas bag — so you get both the tools and the storage mechanism to keep them secure all in one. Not only does the bag have multiple pockets, but to keep the larger tools like the shovel or hand rake upright and in place, there is a continuous elastic band woven into and around the bag to slide the upper part of the tools in and keep them parallel and secure to the canvas bag. The hand tools have an ergonomic handle design that provides a comfortable grip to help reduce hand fatigue during long, arduous gardening sessions. It’s soft but sturdy, with a rubber handle that prevents slipping. All the tools are made from aluminum alloy, which is rust-resistant and feels lightweight but is still durable and sturdy enough to dig, weed, and rake. The rust-resistant properties are super important, because it means the tools won’t corrode even when exposed to moist soil conditions. Related: Walmart’s bestselling $500 Adirondack patio set is on sale for $220You can purchase the set as is or spend a bit more money (right now $32 instead of the originally $40 price) on the 24-piece set and get an additional potting mat which provides a workspace when you’re potting, planting, or trimming plants. You can also purchase the 23-piece set as is but in a different floral print instead of the plain green and black canvas combo. Details to knowMaterial: Canvas, aluminum alloy, and rubber.Includes: The full set includes a spray bottle, shovel, crack weeder, hand rake, weeder, pruner, hand gloves, 15 plant tags, and the canvas bag.Patterns: Two.The “perfect garden buddy” as one shopper called this set includes quality tools and a sturdy tote that makes it perfect and easy to get the job done. It’s very beginner-friendly, and a lot of newbies to gardening really love that it provides everything you need to get started. The fact that the bag provides both a storage space and makes it easy to transport the tools is a major bonus, and it’s a cost effective way to get everything you need at a decent price. “I couldn’t recommend this enough because I certainly couldn’t afford to buy all the tools separately,” another shopper said. Shop more deals Vervewave Cordless Leaf Blower, $50 (was $70) at AmazonCraft911 2-Pack Stainless Steel Gardening Scissors and Pruning Shears, $9 (was $16) at AmazonAltman 20-Pack Succulent Plants, $19 (was $21) at AmazonWith spring well underway — or just around the corner for a few chillier parts of the country right now — there’s no better time to start planning your warm-weather gardening. And whether you’re a beginner trying out a new hobby for the first time or an avid gardener with quite the green thumb, the Craft911 Growit 23-Piece Gardening Tools Set is an affordable way to get outside and get growing.

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When an AI agent needs to log into your CRM, pull records from your database, and send an email on your behalf, whose identity is it using? And what happens when no one knows the answer? Alex Stamos, chief product officer at Corridor, and Nancy Wang, CTO at 1Password joined the VB AI Impact Salon Series to dig into the new identity framework challenges that come along with the benefits of agentic AI. “At a high level, it’s not just who this agent belongs to or which organization this agent belongs to, but what is the authority under which this agent is acting, which then translates into authorization and access,” Wang said.How 1Password ended up at the center of the agent identity problemWang traced 1Password’s path into this territory through its own product history. The company started as a consumer password manager, and its enterprise footprint grew organically as employees brought tools they already trusted into their workplaces. “Once those people got used to the interface, and really enjoyed the security and privacy standards that we provide as guarantees for our customers, then they brought it into the enterprise,” she said. The same dynamic is now happening with AI, she added. “Agents also have secrets, or passwords, just like humans do.”Internally, 1Password is navigating the same tension it helps customers manage: how to let engineers move fast without creating a security mess. Wang said the company actively tracks the ratio of incidents to AI-generated code as engineers use tools like Claude Code and Cursor. “That’s a metric we track intently to make sure we’re generating quality code.”How developers are incurring major security risksStamos said one of the most common behaviors Corridor observes is developers pasting credentials directly into prompts, which is a huge security risk. Corridor flags it and sends the developer back toward proper secrets management.”The standard thing is you just go grab an API key or take your username and password and you just paste it into the prompt,” he said. “We find this all the time because we’re hooked in and grabbing the prompt.” Wang described 1Password’s approach as working on the output side, scanning code as it is written and vaulting any plain text credentials before they persist. The tendency toward the cut-and-paste method of system access is a direct influence on 1Password’s design choices, which is to avoid security tooling that creates friction. “If it’s too hard to use, to bootstrap, to get onboarded, it’s not going to be secure because frankly people will just bypass it and not use it,” she said.Why you cannot treat a coding agent like a traditional security scannerAnother challenge in building feedback between security agents and coding models is false positives, which very friendly and agreeable large language models are prone toward. Unfortunately, these false positives from security scanners can derail an entire code session. “If you tell it this is a flaw, it’ll be like, yes sir, it’s a total flaw!” Stamos said. But, he added, “You cannot screw up and have a false positive, because if you tell it that and you’re wrong, you will completely ruin its ability to write correct code.” That tradeoff between precision and recall is structurally different from what traditional static analysis tools are designed to optimize for, and it has required significant engineering to get right at the latency required, on the order of a few hundred milliseconds per scan.Authentication is easy, but authorization is where things get hard”An agent typically has a lot more access than any other software in your environment,” noted Spiros Xanthos, founder and CEO at Resolve AI, in an earlier session at the event. “So, it is understandable why security teams are very concerned about that. Because if that attack vector gets utilized, then it can both result in a data breach, but even worse, maybe you have something in there that can take action on behalf of an attacker.”So how do you give autonomous agents scoped, auditable, time-limited identities? Wang pointed to SPIFFE and SPIRE, workload identity standards developed for containerized environments, as candidates being tested in agentic contexts. But she acknowledged the fit is rough. “We’re kind of force-fitting a square peg into a round hole,” she said. But authentication is only half of it. Once an agent has a credential, what is it actually allowed to do? Here’s where the principle of least privilege should be applied to tasks rather than roles. “You wouldn’t want to give a human a key card to an entire building that has access to every room in the building,” she explained. “You also don’t want to give an agent the keys to the kingdom, an API key to do whatever it needs to do forever. It needs to be time-bound and also bound to the task you want that agent to do.”In enterprise environments, it won’t be enough to grant scoped access, organizations will need to know which agent acted, under what authority, and what credentials were used. Stamos pointed to OIDC extensions as the current frontrunner in standards conversations, while dismissing the crop of proprietary solutions. “There are 50 startups that believe their proprietary patented solution will be the winner,” he said. “None of those will win, by the way, so I would not recommend.”At a billion users, edge cases are not edge cases anymoreOn the consumer side, Stamos predicted the identity problem will consolidate around a small number of trusted providers, most likely the platforms that already anchor consumer authentication. Drawing on his time as CISO at Facebook, where the team handled roughly 700,000 account takeovers per day, he reframed what scale does to the concept of an edge case. “When you’re the CISO of a company that has a billion users, corner case is something that means real human harm,” he explained. “And so identity, for normal people, for agents, going forward is going to be a humongous problem.”Ultimately, the challenges CTOs face on the agent side stem from incomplete standards for agent identity, improvised tooling, and enterprises deploying agents faster than the frameworks meant to govern them can be written. The path forward requires building identity infrastructure from scratch around what agents actually are, not retrofitting what was built for the humans who created them.

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