I have an opposite story to that. When I was working during college, I had an old man tell me I should invest in silver and gold, which at the time (2005/2006) were around 12 dollars per ounce per silver, and under 600 per ounce per gold. I told him he was crazy, that there was no need to do that. Then when the recession hit in the fall of 2008 thru 2009, Gold went to over 1400 an ounce and silver spiked to over 40 dollars an ounce. That old man no joke cashed out his silver and gold and bragged about making a 250,000 dollar profit. Want to know how much I lost in my public employee retirement fund? Over 60%, equaling over 8,000 dollars. Do you know how hard it is to have saved that much money in 2 years working for the state making 11 bucks an hour? I was not happy but oh well.
The thing with precious metals to me is that having SOME money in them isn't a bad idea. They are a decent hedge against inflation mainly. That said, I would not rely on them for a long term retirement type plan. But if you can get in when they are low and wait it out a few years for the next recession, which comes around about every 10-15 years, at which point historically, precious metals sky rocket briefly, then you stand to make some good gains.
I lost $60,000 in 2008. Once I felt the bottom was near, I saw that as a buying opportunity and did so. Last year alone I am up 25.6% in my investments. I LOVE the roller coaster because that's where you make big money.