With 500 million VND right now, should I invest in gold or stocks?

According to expert Phan Hoang Quan - financial advisor of FIDT Investment Consulting and Asset Management Joint Stock Company, before starting to invest with VND500 million, investors need to have a reserve fund with a value equivalent to at least 3 months of essential expenses, a life insurance contract with an annual fee of 5-8% of annual income and the ability to manage expenses well with a monthly surplus. This is the minimum condition for successful investment.

Regarding the gold market, according to Mr. Quan, most people think that gold is a defensive, stable investment channel that helps fight inflation. However, this is only true for long-term holding.

According to Dragon Capital Vietnam, the return on gold in 21 years is 9%/year but gradually decreases to 7.2%/year in 15 years and 1.7%/year in 10 years (in the period 2001 - 2022). Short-term or wrong-time gold investment can cause investors to suffer losses as well as lose the ability to fight inflation, especially when gold prices are fluctuating strongly and the difference between buying and selling prices is large as it is now.

With 500 million VND, should I invest in gold or stocks? (Illustration photo)

Gold has grown 13% in 2023, 26% in 2024 and is currently 52% as of April 2025. This is a "hot" growth compared to the 9%/year in the previous 21 years. After this growth period, gold is expected to slow down or have negative growth towards 9%/year. This happened in the period 2011 - 2021 after the "hot" growth period 2008 - 2011.

"Gold prices often increase due to the risk of instability in the world economy such as economic crisis, war... so the price will decrease when these events end. The faster the gold price increases, the faster it will decrease. Therefore, investing in gold at the present time has a high level of risk and high cost due to the large difference between buying and selling prices.

With the expectation of decreasing profits and high risks, gold investment is not a good choice at present. However, you can still buy gold at a low rate of 5-10% of total assets and maintain it long-term as a defensive asset class to diversify assets ," Mr. Quan stated his opinion.

Regarding stocks and shares, expert Phan Hoang Quan said that most people think that this is a risky investment channel and prone to losses, however, investors with appropriate investment methods and long-term holding will achieve outstanding profits. According to Dragon Capital Vietnam, the return on stocks in 5 years is 19.2%/year, 10 years is 15.8%/year, 15 years is 10.8%/year and 21 years is 15.9%/year (in the period 2001 - 2022).

Investing in stocks requires a very high level of knowledge and skills and is only suitable for professional investors who have many years of experience in the market as well as spending time continuously monitoring and researching the market. Non-professional investors should invest in stocks through open-end fund certificates to reduce risks and optimize investment efficiency.

In addition, investors should also consult with personal financial planning experts to have a capital allocation strategy that is appropriate to their financial picture and the current political and economic situation.

According to Mr. Quan, in contrast to the hot gold price, stocks are currently priced quite cheaply. According to FIDT Investment Consulting and Asset Management Joint Stock Company, the VN-Index currently has a total capitalization/total profit after tax (P/E) of 12.25, lower than the average of 15, and a P/B (the ratio between the price of a stock and the book value of that stock) of 1.58, lower than the average of 2 (from 2012 to 2025).

This is an attractive price for the stock channel when the valuation has fallen to near the bottom, providing great room for growth. Stock prices will tend to decrease when economic instability occurs and will increase again when the economic growth prospects become better in the future.

The stock market usually reflects the state of the real economy 6 months earlier, so when the economy is felt to be improving, the stock price has grown strongly. The current stock investment channel is still volatile with risks ahead, but this is a suitable investment channel because it has a high expected profit corresponding to high risk.

An investment method suitable to investment capacity combined with a reasonable capital allocation strategy and long-term holding, investors will achieve effective investment results.

" Gold and stocks are two asset classes with opposite growth characteristics. Combining asset allocation into both asset classes will help investors have a diversified and balanced asset portfolio. However, the proportion of these asset classes depends on each person's risk tolerance, risk appetite and the current economic cycle.

Vietnam’s current economic cycle is in the recovery phase and transitioning to the pre-growth phase. This is the intersection and transition point between defensive and investment asset classes, namely gold and stocks. When the economy enters the pre-growth phase, stock prices will grow strongly and gold prices will fall sharply.

Therefore, at the present time, investors should allocate more stock proportion than gold to optimize the next economic cycle," Mr. Quan concluded.

Thanh Lam

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/co-500-trieu-dong-luc-nay-nen-dau-tu-vang-hay-chung-khoan-ar939794.html