Commodity investing is not for everyone. Investors need not hold commodities as an asset class in their porfolios despite what Wall Street promotes them to be.

The following chart shows the investment returns for various commodities from 2008 to 2017:

Click to enlarge

Source: Using commodities as a tactical portfolio diversifier, Proactive Advisor Magazine

Commodities are extremely volatile. For example, crude oil fell about 46% in 2014 and then another 42% in the following year. In the next two years, it returns were average.