I wonder if you might be oversimplifying? There are many reasons why one might not want to hold cash or traditional investments. Especially if you are subject

I wonder if you might be oversimplifying? There are many reasons why one might not want to hold cash or traditional investments. Especially if you are subject to wage garnishments, judgments, etc. As someone who has been pretty much as poor as you can be, I can say with confidence that those in the lowest wealth quintile don't have what most would consider to be a "portfolio", they are just getting by... its not a good plan to have a bunch of gold to pawn, but at least it is something that is highly liquid if necessary, as long as you can do math yourself to avoid being scammed. Also, all investments go in cycles... if you bought and held gold instead of tech stocks in 1999-2000 you're killing it right now... if you bought gold in 2011 not so much. Poor people aren't poor because of their investment choices - they're poor because they live beyond their means and don't save.