Investors should consider safety factors when investing in gold
Sharing at the Conference "Investment Table 2026: Focus of Cash Flow" organized by Labandautu.vn in coordination with Diaocnet.vn on the afternoon of January 20, 2026, Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu, a financial - banking expert, said that in 2026, in all investment channels from securities, gold, real estate, foreign currency, deposits to digital assets, gold will be the most volatile channel, followed by the stock market.
According to Mr. Hieu, for stocks, the expectation of upgrading from the frontier market to emerging markets is opening up great opportunities for capital flows, but risks are still present as global geopolitical fluctuations are increasingly unpredictable. However, the focus of the market today lies in gold, as this investment channel is experiencing unprecedented fluctuations.
World gold prices have exceeded the threshold of 4,700 USD/ounce, while domestic gold prices at one point reached 165 million VND/tael. These figures far exceed all forecasts of two years ago. "Despite administrative management measures, crowd psychology and fear of missing opportunities continue to strongly dominate investor behavior, making gold a sensitive and difficult-to-control investment channel," Mr. Hieu said.
Answering the question "should gold be sold to buy real estate or not", Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu said that this is a very difficult problem at the present time. According to him, gold prices are at a historical peak but still show no signs of stopping. In a positive scenario, world gold prices can completely reach the threshold of 5,000 USD/ounce this year. If that happens, domestic gold prices from about 165 million VND/tael currently may reach 170 million VND/tael.
Purely based on profit criteria, Mr. Hieu emphasized that gold is a superior investment channel. In 2025, gold brings a profit rate of about 80%, no other investment channel achieves a similar rate. Even real estate, a traditional investment channel, is very difficult to achieve a profit rate of 30% in a year, not to mention a profit rate like gold.
Therefore, according to Mr. Hieu, if the main goal is profit, investors should not sell gold to switch to real estate, but should continue to hold gold in the context that the upward trend is still maintained.
However, Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu also reminded investors not only to look at profits, but also to consider other criteria, especially safety factors. In terms of long-term safety, real estate may be safer than gold. With a developing economy like Vietnam, real estate prices are very difficult to reduce in the long term, as land prices continuously increase, construction costs escalate and interest rates tend to increase.
Real estate prices have increased for a long time, but profit margins are no longer attractive
From a market perspective, Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, said that cash flow will find the place with the best profitability. Reality shows that three traditional investment channels including gold, stocks and real estate are still maintaining a special attraction. As soon as a signal of a "wave" of price increases appears, the market immediately becomes vibrant, capital flows pour in quickly and pulls the price level up according to profit expectations.
Although both are considered asset shelter channels, according to Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh, each field has very different characteristics. Gold and securities are flexible playgrounds, allowing small-cap investors to easily participate and withdraw. Meanwhile, real estate is a segment that requires greater financial potential, requiring investors to have a solid capital foundation, or own additional financial resources and the ability to use credit leverage effectively.
In terms of profitability, Mr. Dinh believes that real estate is superior thanks to its ability to generate "double profits". Investors not only benefit from the increase in asset value over time, but can also create stable cash flow through mining, leasing or business activities. Meanwhile, gold only brings profits when prices increase, while securities, although having additional dividends, in reality this rate is usually insignificant compared to bank deposit interest rates in many periods.
From decades of market experience, Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh affirmed that real estate is still always considered the most reliable investment channel in the long term. History shows that real estate value almost only tends to increase, especially in the period 2025-2026, when land costs and new management policies are creating a direct push to the price level.
According to him, these factors continue to strengthen the role of real estate as an important pillar in the asset accumulation strategy of Vietnamese investors, although in the short term, the profit margin may no longer be as attractive as in the previous period.
