The Golden Rule Recession worries? Look past the pot of gold and set your sights on commodities.

The e-mail said, "The big one is blowing in; an economic storm that's been building for years has hit the United States, and there are no financial remedies or political tools to stop its destructive force. The dollar is crashing, America is sinking and the world is cashing out of Uncle Sam's funny money."

Wow, that sounds bad. It sounds, as the e-mail went on to discuss, like a time when I might want to consider putting some of my money in gold rather than in stocks, bonds or cash. Gold is often seen as a safe haven during topsy-turvy economic times since it's a so-called hard asset that can be a hedge against inflation. The trouble is that neither you nor I can believe the overwrought and under-baked marketing pitches of gold bugs, which hatch like mayflies on a trout stream any time the word recession hits the headlines. It's better to think a little more broadly. Consider, in short, the role commodities play in your portfolio overall. It makes sense to put some investments in asset classes that move counter to inflation, but they shouldn't all be in gold and probably shouldn't total more than 5 percent of your holdings at most.