Make a list of everything that pays you. Social Security goes first. Then the pension, if you have one. Then the CD interest and the required withdrawal from the IRA.
Every line on that list is paid in one currency. We rarely think of that as a choice. For most of our lives, it was simply the money.
The people who manage the world’s largest piles of money see it differently. Central banks keep reserves, the national savings they hold in other currencies and in gold. For decades, most of those reserves sat in dollars.
That share has been sliding, slowly, since the turn of the century. Some people think the next chapter for the dollar gets written soon. One well-known investor believes a December meeting in Miami could change it for good.
Set the two sides of the table next to each other, and the gap gets easy to see.
What central banks hold
The dollar’s share of global reserves slipped to 56.7% in the second quarter of 2026. It was above 70% around 2000. The money has drifted toward other currencies and toward gold.
What we hold
Our checks, our savings and most of our retirement accounts are counted in dollars. Very few of us ever decided that. We just never had a reason to ask.
To be clear, the dollar is still the biggest reserve currency by a wide margin. Nobody is replacing it next week.
But a slow drift is the kind of change our generation knows best. It is how the cost of a house, a car and a college degree moved while we were busy living.
Where the cohort’s money sits this quarter, and what it is counted in.
The honest catch? Gold pays no interest and no dividend. Storage fees, dealer markups and custodian charges come out of the return every single year.
So the question is not whether gold is magic. It is how much of a retirement should sit outside the dollar, if any. Some firms explain the mechanics for free. One gold company put together a short guide on exactly that question.
The arithmetic
U.S. dollar share of global foreign exchange reserves of 56.70% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 57.18% in the first quarter: International Monetary Fund, COFER data brief, September 30, 2026. Dollar share above 70% around 2000: IMF COFER historical series. IRA-held precious metals must be held by an approved custodian or trustee rather than by the account owner: Internal Revenue Code section 408(m) and IRS guidance.
Tonight, look at that list of everything that pays you. Then ask one plain question about each line: what is it counted in, and who decides what that is worth. Same time tomorrow, one line further down the list.
Andrew
Boomers Trade is written by someone getting older right alongside you, and watching who profits from it.
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