Any time a market goes up like gold has in the last year, it's going to attract attention. For years, gold was a fringe investment for gold bugs. But a big jump in price brought it to the attention of the mainstream media and everyday investors. It hasn't enjoyed this kind of following since the late 1970s.

But the question of gold's investment value isn't as simple as a stock question. That's because there are at least two sides to the answer. The first side is the straight investment value of gold. Is gold going to go up from here? My answer to that is a resounding "maybe." The charts haven't given us a strong indication either way. So it's not necessarily going to bring you a large profit.

However, whenever an investment begins to grow in popularity, as gold has, it tells me the current run is almost over. Sure, it could go up a good bit higher. But the number of buyers has already started to slow and will continue to do so. When the number of buyers drops below a certain point, the gold price will wane. As a straight investment, the time to buy gold was back in 2001, when it was selling in the $250s -- not today when it's selling near $700.

That argument won't make a lot of gold bugs happy. That's because of the second side of gold's value. I've worked with gold publications for over 15 years. I've seen many of gold's good times and its really bad times. The one constant during all those times is the belief by some that gold should be the backing of the U.S. dollar. When President Nixon took us off the gold standard back in 1973, it created a real problem for the dollar. It no longer had a solid, objective foundation for its value. Instead, it had the whims of the government creating (or destroying) its value.

So today, gold serves as more than just an investment vehicle. It serves as a protection against calamity for when/if the worst-case scenario happens. It's more of a risk-management tool. And it's with that view in mind that I think gold is worth owning.