In his annual list of 10 forecasts for 2022, Byron Wien purports that gold will hit a new record this year and gain 20% in price. Gold had a nice run in 2020, reaching a peak of $2070 in August of that year, then falling to $1804 as of the beginning of this year. The prediction is discussed in an article in Chief Investment Officer.

Despite brief spikes since that 2020 peak, gold has trailed behind Bitcoin, which skyrocketed more than four-fold over the same length of time. But analysts are divided over whether gold, which has historically been a refuge in uncertain times, or the popular new cryptocurrency will take the prize in the long run as the safe haven asset of choice. Wien falls definitively into the gold camp, foreseeing that the metal will edge out crypto as inflation persists at a high rate (4.5%, according to another item on his list of 10). “…investors seek the perceived safety and inflation hedge of gold amidst rising prices and volatility,” he wrote, adding that gold will reclaim “its title as a haven for newly minted billionaires, even as cryptocurrencies continue to gain market share.”

In 2021, Wien’s predictions had several good calls, the article details, including the dollar strengthening and the ongoing economic recovery. But he also predicted better US-China relations, a broader stock market rally, and the Justice Department ceasing their actions against Facebook and Alphabet. In other words, not every item on his list of 10 is guaranteed to come to pass.