Oct 22, 2025
In this episode of Perspectives, Escala Chief Investment Officer, Tracey McNaughton, talks about gold and how it has become a hedge against distrust. When money becomes too political to believe in, investors turn to what can’t be printed.
(1:35) Let’s start with AI. OpenAI’s been in the headlines almost weekly - new partnerships, huge infrastructure deals, and some big numbers attached. But behind all of that excitement, there’s a growing conversation about vendor financing and related-party transactions - essentially suppliers funding their own customers. You’ve been following this closely, Tracey. What’s your take on it?
(4:59) So in effect, the same interconnectedness that amplifies growth on the way up amplifies fragility on the way down.
(7:43) Is the other risk though around whether the revenue that is being promised by some of these companies in some of these loans is being pulled forward.
(8:50) So the concern would be the quality of the revenue - not necessarily the existence of financing itself.
(9:19) You’ve said recently that gold has stopped being a hedge - and started being a referendum. What do you mean by that?
(10:18) So you’d say this is more a vote of no confidence?
(11:36) That really is interesting. We’ve built a system that depends on our faith in fiat, in this case, the US dollar, but we price our distrust in fiat in US dollars per ounce.
(12:32) And what’s the implication for portfolios?
(14:17) Let’s move to a related theme - risk management. You mentioned that a client asked you recently, “How do you think about risk when adding a new fund to the portfolio?” That’s such an important question, particularly in times like these.
(15:40) Right – and so even when allocations look different on paper, they can still be tied to the same global currents. How do you identify genuine diversification?