Gold can be a particularly controversial asset, with some people claiming that it should be a major part of every portfolio and others pointing out that the mining operations continue operating at a loss even as prices drop, and that the time for defensive measures has passed. A new report from David Varadi, David Wismer, and Jerry C. Wagner at Flexible Plan Investments Ltd. comes squarely down in the former camp with the conclusion that a balanced portfolio should allocate 20% to gold to maximize risk-adjusted returns. Gold can be a great way to hedge “Quantitative analysis of gold in…