60/40 Balanced Portfolio in times of Zero Interest Rates

The advocates of the 60/40 balanced portfolio forget that the 40% that is invested in bonds poses a great risk for no return. Given where bond yields (if you want to call the puny returns on offer a 'yield') are the only way that bond prices will ever move to a significant extent is DOWN. That would mean losses on the bond portion of the portfolio. Much better to stay in cash (or pull out the money from the bank if ever the governments impose negative interest rates).
Vanguard defends 60/40 Portfolio

Gold is the ultimate protection

Governments are waging a silent war against Cash. They don't do it openly but sail in the tailwinds of Financial Technology Companies, including Credit Card providers and Banks that do the dirty work for them. Cashless societies open the door to total control of all activities and by implication also total control of the citizens, or maybe one should call them worker ants that are only allowed to finance the more and more absurd spending perpetrated by the Polit-Establisment. Gold is even more unpopular in that Nomenklatura and it is no wonder that there are persistent efforts to make it difficult to buy and hold gold.
Given that it is the ultimate insurance policy against total state control of your wealth careful planning is imperative when purchasing and storing gold.