AWM Insights Financial and Investment News

In this episode of AWM Insights, Chief Investment Officer Justin Dyer and Portfolio Manager Mena Hanna break down the wild swings in gold and other precious metals, exploring what’s driving recent market volatility. They dig into the core principles of disciplined, long-term investing and share why speculation—even when it’s tempting—rarely serves families building generational wealth. With personal stories, expert perspective, and compelling data, the conversation uncovers the real risks and rewards behind “shiny objects” like gold and Bitcoin. Tune in to hear candid wisdom and practical steps for safeguarding your family’s 100-year legacy in unpredictable markets.

Chapters
(00:00) Kicking Off the High-Performance Summer
(00:41) Extreme Volatility in Precious Metals
(02:26) Dispersion in Market Returns and Importance of Diversification
(03:26) Geopolitical Tensions and Gold’s Current Narrative
(04:19) Avoiding the Trap of Chasing Performance
(05:26) Why Gold Isn’t in Our Playbook
(08:36) Store of Value Assets and Bitcoin’s Surprising Divergence
(10:32) Sticking to Value Creation and Long-Term Strategy
(11:32) Learning from Other Asset Classes and Avoiding Costly Mistakes

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Creators and Guests

Host
Justin Dyer
Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer at AWM Capital
Host
Mena Hanna
Senior Investment Analyst at AWM Capital

What is AWM Insights Financial and Investment News?

A bite sized discussion on timely financial news and investment topics, to help you maximize your net worth and wealth for the next generation with Justin Dyer and Mena Hanna of AWM Capital.

Justin Dyer: Hey everyone.

Welcome back to another
episode of a WM Insights.

Justin Dyer, your host here,
chief Investment Officer

of a WM joined as always

by Mina

Hana, my right hand man portfolio
manager here at a WM and boy, uh,

2026 continues to, to run here.

Uh, it's just like never a dull moment.

Um.

both just internally, right?

we, we had a great, uh, high performance
summit, which many, many, of you know, was

our, our annual offsite really kicking off
the year with a bang, which was awesome.

Uh, but certainly in markets, right?

Markets have continued
to, uh, be active, I guess

let, let's call it.

Um, and certainly no less
than the precious metals.

So we're gonna talk about that a

little bit today, just kind of riff on,
uh, that continued narrative, how we

think about it, how you should think about
it, uh, what's driving it, all of that

good stuff.

So, Mina, why don't you kick us
off, what what are you seeing?

What, what, what's updating you or what's
uh, what's captivating your attention?

Any different narratives at
at least you want to jump into

with respect to the press?

Precious metal trade.

Mena Hanna: Yeah.

I'm, I'm honestly shocked by everything
that's going on in that market right now.

How volatile

it is, how fast it's moving.

We were just in a meeting

for like an hour and
15 minutes, and in that

time

span

gold was up 5%

and then it sank 10% and then sort of
reached a, a midpoint at like 5,300 bucks.

So, crazy, crazy activity

in.

an asset class that's massive, like

people forget that gold is

35,

$36 trillion dollars of total
value as an asset class.

So it's almost enough to wipe
our, uh, our national debt, um,

if

we could all just band together and,
and use the gold to pay that off.

but.

it it is a massive asset class.

And to see swings like that
in an asset class is crazy.

It's literally a $3 trillion

dollar move in a matter of
a couple of minutes, which

is, yeah, not normal.

What, how do you think about
just gold, the activity, the

fact that it stayed relevant for

so long?

Like how do you process that?

Justin Dyer: This time is no different.

I, I think is the, the quick take.

You and I were talking earlier today.

Um.

And there are always assets
that are moving like this.

Um, there's probably assets
that are actually moving

even greater than gold has.

They're not the literal, bright,
shiny object that necessarily is

getting the, the attention, right?

They're, they're market value not
what you just said, you know, 35,

30 $6 trillion, but you digest
or you dissect the s and p 500,

you are gonna see an
insane range of returns.

You're gonna see companies
that have absolutely

Killed it and significantly
outperformed the s and p 500.

And you're gonna see companies
that have completely, uh, uh,

you know, floundered, right?

In many cases just gone bankrupt
or, or gone to zero, right?

And so, uh, you always have to
know that there's this crazy

dispersion when it comes to investing.

And this is true across all markets, if
you will, public markets, private markets.

Uh, it's why diversification works.

Um, and so.

You know, for for me, I, I don't want
to sound, um, uh, you know, I don't

know, trite and just say like, oh,
you know, this time is no different.

Right.

It is interesting when,
uh, when, you're seeing

movement like this, certainly the
reason why gold and, and other precious

metals and silver specifically are,
are behaving the way they're behaving.

is is interesting, right?

The geopolitical implications,
um, the world that we live in.

the tensions that, that Are,
you know, fairly palpable.

Like that, that, that, is, that is a

little different,

but there's always gonna be different
drivers of return and performance.

Um, with respect to asset classes,
what I would would say, kind of

the, the take home, the lesson
I wanna make sure we convey

to everyone is you can't
go chasing your tail.

Right?

Just because you see a good asset
class, most of the time when you

see it and it's already kind of
done what it's done, it's, you know.

Too late.

Right.

Or you're, you're.

You're, uh, you're succumbing
to the, the eight old age old

adage of, of buying high, selling
low, which is exactly what

you don't want to do, right?

Um, and so you can't, you, you need
to have the going in plan, right?

The going in playbook as we talk about
quite a bit around investing, investing

for the long term, and know and be okay
with the fact that there are going to be.

investments that you miss, but we
know with high probability that we're

gonna hit the number that we need.

Even if we

miss the, the gold trade, right?

Um,

the, the, the often overlooked piece
of it is you, you miss the, the crazy

volatility that often comes with
investments like this, like go back to

the meme stocks around COVID and a lot of
the craziness that was happening there.

Like those are just behaviors that show
up time and time again within markets.

The actual asset that that
is, that is, uh, exhibiting

those, those movements changes.

But, um, and the reason why.

Et cetera does change, but you can't
build a predictive investing, uh, or a

high confident investing approach chasing

returns.

Right,

Mena Hanna: totally.

Now, I'm gonna throw you a little bit of

a curve ball, but are
you personally invested

in gold?

Justin Dyer: I am not personally
invested in gold in my, my own

portfolio, you know, and again, it's

uh, I put my money where
my mouth is, right?

Yeah.

We generally invest 100%
alongside of our clients.

Um, I, I it's just a, it's an asset.

I don't fully,

I don't wanna say understand, right?

You, you can understand
the narrative around gold.

You understand it's a.

a.

quote unquote chaos hedge, or it's a

store of value.

You know, there's a a, list of,
uh, of classifications that, that

I think are completely legitimate.

Just for, for my, my own future planning,
I want to invest in, in, Value creation,

value additive investments where you see a

business, you see a property, a real
asset that is creating value and

you can

then apply valuation, um, formulas
to that, to come up with what you

think that asset is worth now.

Right.

that is investing.

I think, you know, not using this
term as a, as a negative, uh, term per

se, although I think I, I think a lot
of people conflate these two things.

Investing, is that right?

Investing, is buying future
cash flows At today's price, at

today's present value, right?

And, And, believing that that present
value will grow into the future Um,

gold is far more of a speculative asset.

You are buying it expecting someone in the
future is going to pay more money based

on feel, Based on technicals or based
on just, you know, supply and demand.

There's no fundamental
reason behind that per se.

And So I just don't feel
comfortable with that.

Mena Hanna: Totally.

And I actually got into a, a, an
argument, uh, I shouldn't say argument,

healthy debate with one of my friends.

There was around 3,600 tons of gold

mine in 2025.

Justin Dyer: Obviously

Mena Hanna: that ramped up

as gold price moved up.

There was more of an incentive
for people to mine more gold.

But the fact that more of it is
being created, found discovered every

single year, the only way that
you're gonna make money is that

more people are gonna want it.

The demand side outpaces that supply side.

We've all gone through the, the supply
and demand economic class in college.

We know what that actually

looks like, but that's a lot of gold.

And at some point, I'm guessing
people are not gonna be

all that

impressed with gold

and it's just not gonna be the hot asset,

the hot commodity.

And when that happens, who
knows what happens to the gold

price Yeah.

Industrial gold price
is like $200 an ounce.

So yeah.

Who, where, who

Justin Dyer: Versus where,

where are we?

5,455.

Yeah.

Something like

that.

That's, that is a crazy spread.

Yeah.

I mean, the,

just, just wait until.

You know, who knows Elon Musk or someone

figures out how to launch a
rocket and land on an asteroid

that's just, uh, full of gold.

You know, I don't expect
that to necessarily happen

in my lifetime, but Right.

That's, that's,

uh,

uh, that, that's a possibility.

there.

There's 100% A possibility.

I think that it, another interesting,
just talking about this kind

of broader asset class store
of value asset class in general

is

what's been going

on with Bitcoin.

I'm actually pretty surprised.

Um, I mean, not to say Bitcoin I Has done
poorly recently, or it has done poorly

recently, but like, you know, over,

over the last 1, 1, 2 year, uh, timeframe,
I, I think Bitcoin is a digital gold.

And to see them not

move in correlation with one
another, it's not to say they

have to just because they are,
I, I think that digital gold is a

plausible explanation for Bitcoin.

Um, I am just pretty surprised that
that there's been pretty extreme.

divergence Between

the

two.

Mena Hanna: Yeah, it's, I think it,
it is enforcing and reinforcing what

we're saying, which is you don't buy an

asset for scarcity, hoping that there's
just more demand at the end of it.

Bitcoin's trading at $84,000.

Right now it's down 20%.

Uh, in the past year or so.

So

yeah, it's, uh, I think this is just a

speculative push into one
asset class and what we've seen

historically is that does not

end well.

So we'll see how it plays
out, but odds are, uh,

against.

Against those

Justin Dyer: buying

gold

right Yeah, totally.

And Yeah.

Kind of bringing this to, I know
we've talked about precious metals

and gold a lot over the last few

podcasts, but it's important, right?

It's obviously catching

a lot of attention, a lot of
eyeballs, um, and it could, it

could continue to run from here.

I mean, it, that is kind of the
definition of a speculative asset

class.

What we

really.

take a step back and, and
always ask ourselves when stuff

like this is, is going on.

Hey, Has our general philosophy
around investing, which

is

more geared towards investing in value
creation assets, has that changed?

Has anything changed in the world?

Yes.

The world's a lot more
uncertain right now.

Um,

there's tension, there's some conflict,
all that stuff, and that's driving gold.

We don't know when that's gonna end.

That could end overnight.

It does seem like some of the
behavior right now with gold is like.

Is a little frothy

that could continue, like I've said.

Um, and those are just investment
strategies that, that, we

don't really subscribe to.

I don't think they're strategies
really, if you think about the

true definition of that word.

We want to have discipline.

We want to have diversification and
high confidence and predictability

over long-term expected returns.

And when you look at things like

Bitcoin, you

look at things like gold.

We just don't really see them.

it's

not

Mena Hanna: how you're building
your a 100-year family.

And you can learn these lessons
from other asset classes.

We've talked about diamonds before.

You know, gold, they're,
they're gonna make

gold at some point in
a lab just like they're

making diamonds right now.

The diamond in index is
down 50% almost since

2022, with lab grown diamonds.

so yeah, you, you, So you, want to
learn these lessons in a way, in

the least expensive way as possible.

And unfortunately, some
of these lessons can

cost you your 100-year family if you.

Go off the rails.

Um, and we've seen it.

We, We, wanna be there
to give good advice and

pro protect against that.

But, but yeah, you can take
a look at other asset classes

and see what

happens in, in similar

Justin Dyer: times.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Awesome.

That's a great place to end.

Um, if anyone has questions, continued

questions around gold,

precious metals, Bitcoin.

or otherwise,

right.

Always send them our way.

Mina,

Mena Hanna: give

them

the

number.

Yeah.

6 2 6 8 6 2 0

Justin Dyer: 5.

5.

Perfect.

And

we will keep going here in 2026.

Uh, hopefully keeps being an interesting
one and markets keep, uh, working in our

favor.

But until next time, own your
wealth, make an impact, and always

be a pro.

Thanks for

listening.