Since the election, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over 13% while the S&P 500 is up 11%. One victim of the move into risk assets was gold, which plunged over 13% in the weeks following the election.

Although gold prices have since recovered some of their losses, the yellow metal’s drop has created a buying opportunity for those wanting to add bullion to their portfolios.

For centuries, physical gold has served as an effective crisis hedge. When economies take a severe downturn and paper money gets devalued, a stash of gold can save you from losing your shirt.

Our friendly neighbors to the north would do well to remember that wisdom—because they’ve been experiencing the mother of all housing bubbles.

“At this point,” says Jared Dillian, a former Wall Street trader and contrarian analyst who predicted Canada's looming economic crash early on, “you’d have to live under a rock to not realize what’s going on. Three years ago, I got laughed at when I said Canadian real estate was in a bubble. No one’s been laughing recently, though.”

Unlike three years ago, today the tell-tale signs of a bubble waiting for a pin are ubiquitous. Here are just a few:

At its March meeting, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25%. In doing so, it hiked rates for only the third time since 2006. However, in a strange turn of events, the Fed’s move was perceived as a dovish one by the markets.

That’s because even with inflation at its highest level since 2012, the Fed said monetary policy will remain accommodative “for some time.” As has been the case in the past, the Fed is willing to let inflation consolidate above its 2% target before embarking on a more aggressive tightening path.

This willingness to let inflation “run hot” means even as nominal rates rise, real rates—that is, the nominal interest rate minus inflation—are headed into negative territory.

So what are the implications of negative real rates?

The way Robert Kiyosaki, educational entrepreneur of “Rich Dad” fame and member of the Hard Assets Alliance, started accumulating his wealth seems more than just a bit quirky.

According to Kiyosaki, at the beginning of his career, he once interviewed a Hindu guru who was covered in gold jewelry.

Kiyosaki asked him, “Why all the gold?”

Since hitting a record-low of $177 in January 2015, Bitcoin is up almost 600%.

On March 2, 2017, it reached a new high of $1,268 per unit—thus surpassing the price of an ounce of gold for the first time ever.

So, what’s the driving force behind this parabolic rise?

Having jumped from one job to another early in life… and with those jobs being across many continents, I haven’t really given much thought to my pension. Looking at the numbers, it seems I’m not the only one. Over 50% of Americans aged 25–34 have. Then again, given the current state of the pension system, it may be a prudent move.

A 2015 study from the National Association of State Retirement Administrators estimated that public pension funds are around $1 trillion in the red—but the problem gets worse.

105 years ago, American financier J.P. Morgan testified before Congress. When asked if the control of credit involved a control of money, Morgan responded by saying, “Not always. [Credit] is an evidence of banking, but [credit] is not the money itself. Money is gold, and nothing else.”

Although they are not the same, “money” and “credit” are used interchangeably in our vocabulary today. Given the massive credit expansion over the past four decades, understanding the difference between the two has never been more important.

Gold ETFs, such as the GLD ETF, are rising in popularity due to their convenience. They’re easy to trade, there’s no need to store anything, and no one is going to break into your house to steal your GLD shares.

But there are a lot of hidden dangers inherent in the structure and operation of gold ETFs that few investors are aware of—and these risks are more pronounced than ever, as the threat of another financial crisis is always around the corner.

Considering the public’s waning trust in the banking system, many investors find themselves wondering how GLD stacks up to owning the real thing. When you look at both assets more closely, it’s clear that gold ETFs and gold bullion are very different investments.

In 1978, one year after taking control of impoverished China, Deng Xiaoping declared “to get rich is glorious.” Since Deng’s declaration, China’s per-capita GDP has grown by over 5,000%.

China is without question the biggest economic success story in recent history. However, rapid growth has come at a cost. China’s total debt/GDP ratio is now a staggering 277%—and the credit expansion is showing no sign of slowing. New bank loans in 2016 totaled $1.84 trillion—8% above the previous record.

Although the economy grew by 6.7% in 2016, the debt is causing a host of problems in China.

Gold may have ended 2016 on a negative note, but the yellow metal is now up 7% since January. A big contributor to its rise is the large inflows into gold exchange-traded fund (ETF’s). In 2016, inflows into gold ETF’s were the second highest on record and accounted for 34% of total investment demand.

With inflows showing continued strength in 2017, why should investors avoid gold ETF’s?