Diwali 2012 is just a couple of weeks away. Traditionally, this has been the season for buying gold. We thought it would be interesting to see how gold prices have appreciated over a decade. Today's chart of the day shows the return on gold from one Diwali to the next in rupee terms. Had you invested in gold every year since Diwali 2001, you would have made enormous gains on all your gold investments. The total gains would have been about 670%. So, should you buy gold even after it has risen so substantially? Being a keeper of value, gold tends to act as a hedge against currency devaluation and negative real interest rates. At a time when central banks across the world are recklessly devaluing the ir currencies, gold has retained its status as a safe haven. As such, we believe that gold should account for about 10-15% of a person's investment portfolio.