Last month should have been the moment for “safe haven” assets like gold and government bonds to shine. Instead, gold suffered its worst month in over a decade, while UK government bonds saw their biggest fall since the 2022 mini-budget crisis.
So what went wrong?
In this episode of Investing Unlocked Extra, Georgie Frost speaks to finance journalist Holly Mead about why traditional defensive investments sometimes fail – and what investors should really do when markets turn volatile.
They explore:
- Why gold and bonds dropped during a geopolitical crisis
- Whether defensive assets still have a place in portfolios
- How inflation and interest rates change investment behaviour
- What actually performed well during the market turmoil
- Whether younger investors should bother with defensive assets at all
If you're wondering how to build a resilient investment portfolio in uncertain times, this episode breaks it down in clear, practical terms.
Guest: Holly Mead
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-mead-411b4a136/
X.com: https://x.com/holly_mead_
TikTok: @hollymead_moneyjourno
To hear more from us:
Georgie Frost
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What is Investing Unlocked?
Investing Unlocked is a smart, straight-talking podcast that decodes the jargon for people who want to make more of their money and understand what really drives investment performance.
Join Georgie Frost, multi-award-winning financial broadcaster, with regular guest Simon Lambert, alongside an impressive lineup of leading financial experts, as they go beyond the latest finance stories to explore the building blocks of investing, the behaviour behind it, the history that shaped it, and the big ideas influencing what happens next.
As investing moves to the centre of financial life in 2026, the show invites in the people traditional finance has left behind.
Investing Unlocked is sponsored by PensionBee.