3 real asset themes and a $10,000 reason to ditch your petrol car

Please note this interview was filmed on Tuesday, 14 April 2026.

Markets have felt more turbulent than usual. Macro conditions are shifting quickly, and even a single headline or tweet from Trump can trigger sharp moves across global markets.

Lately, the list of things to keep track of can feel never ending. Geopolitical tensions are elevated, commodities are moving, oil's back in focus, EV adoption is picking up, and gold feels impossible to ignore. At the same time, supply chains are fracturing, energy flows are being disrupted, and real assets are suddenly front of mind.

For years, investors have treated commodities as a footnote or a tactical trade at best. Justin Lin, Investment Strategist at Global X, wants to challenge that thinking, arguing that deglobalisation, persistent geopolitical conflict and an accelerating energy transition are forcing investors to rethink how they build their portfolios. 

“Real assets matter again. Commodities could be the portfolio leaders.”

In this interview, Lin makes the case for why commodities, gold and battery technology deserve to move back into Australian investors’ portfolios, identifies the most underappreciated opportunities over the next five years, and explains why it might be time to start thinking about an EV.

Interview summary

Real assets are back and investors are underexposed

Commodities have long been treated as a peripheral allocation, “a kind of plus one to the portfolio and never part of the core or never part of a conviction that investors have,” as Lin puts it. He believes that mindset is now dangerously outdated.

The shift starts with deglobalisation. In a highly interconnected world, commodities were easy to source. Contracts were signed, shipments were delivered, and supply chains worked efficiently. That world is now fragmenting.

“When the world is extremely globalised, these commodities are very easily accessible. But now we have tariffs, we have wars… suddenly these commodities are actually quite hard to get, and real assets matter again" says Lin.

There is also a valuation argument. Since the GFC in 2008, commodities have lagged global GDP growth and remain around 20% below their prior peaks, while equities have nearly tripled.

"There's a massive opportunity for mean reversion and for it to be a high conviction player from that front," Lin says. 

For investors, that creates a dual opportunity. Commodities can act as diversifiers, while also offering potential upside if they begin to catch up.

“They are very powerful diversifiers… they have different performance drivers than equities, they are uncorrelated with equities,” Lin adds.

Commodities offer both protection and upside

Oil dominates the commodity headlines, but Lin cautions against thinking about the asset class in isolation. Commodities are a deeply interconnected system, and the knock-on effects are broader than most investors appreciate.

"It's very important to understand that commodities are an interconnected complex. It's not just energy sitting by itself and then livestock sitting by itself," he says. 

Rising energy prices push up diesel costs, which flow through to mining expenses, fertiliser supply, grain prices, and ultimately livestock prices. The whole basket moves together.

"It's actually an everything rally. It's not just an energy story. Investors can hedge out that risk of being priced out by inflation by investing in the actual materials that are causing the inflation themselves."

That logic underpins the Global X Bloomberg Commodity Complex ETF (ASX: BCOM), which spans energy, metals, agricultural goods and livestock, rebalanced automatically so investors don't have to manage the complexity themselves.

Gold is now a hedge against instability

Gold has always had a role in portfolios, but Lin argues its function is changing in ways that warrant a rethink on allocation.

The traditional case - inflation hedge, currency protection - remains valid. But in an increasingly multipolar world, gold is taking on something broader.

"Gold is being thought about as a geopolitical hedge," Lin says. "We are entering a multipolar world. We are seeing the waning of the economic power or perhaps the economic leadership of the US dollar, and we are also increasingly seeing geopolitical volatility."

The result is that gold is functioning less like a single defensive asset and more like what Lin calls "a put option on global stability. If the stability of the world goes haywire, then [investors] can rely on gold as that safe haven asset that will continue to have value. Someone somewhere will always want gold."

For Australian investors, the Global X Physical Gold Structured ETF (ASX: GOLD) offers a practical way in. Bars are held in JP Morgan's institutional vaults in London, each attributed to investors in the fund.

"Buying a gold ETF is as simple as it gets," Lin says, compared to the complexities of physical ownership and the idiosyncratic risks of mining equities, where "even though the price of gold is going up, your company is not."

Battery tech and EVs are back in focus

While commodities and gold are regaining attention, Lin believes the most underappreciated opportunity sits in battery technology, lithium and electric vehicles. After a difficult few years for lithium prices and EV margins, sentiment has turned cautious. Lin thinks that's precisely the wrong read.

The underlying drivers are strengthening again on multiple fronts. From a consumer perspective, repeated oil price shocks are changing behaviour. With two major energy disruptions within five years, Lin argues that fuel cost volatility is no longer a one-off.

Lin says consumers are starting to rethink petrol car ownership. "They're going to have to start thinking about this as a structurally ingrained risk of driving a petrol car". At the same time, EV economics have matured significantly. 

"Over 10 years, an EV driver could be $10,000 better off than a petrol car driver."

At a national level, energy security concerns are accelerating government investment in domestic energy systems and storage, while AI-driven electricity demand adds yet another tailwind. Lin describes it as a decisive turning point. 

"We flipped from almost a triple negative environment to a triple positive environment, and that's why we're very, very bullish on that entire thematic."

For investors, how you access the theme matters as much as the theme itself. Global X's Battery Tech & Lithium ETF (ASX: ACDC) spans the full battery value chain, from lithium producers through to battery and EV manufacturers. 

"We have a diversified exposure so that you are really capturing the theme rather than being led astray by one or two companies," Lin says.

How to position portfolios from here

For Australian investors already holding broad equity exposure, Lin sees commodities and gold as earning their place in the core. Both act as diversifiers, helping to smooth volatility during periods of geopolitical stress.

“They can smooth out the volatility of your portfolio, even when there’s geopolitical volatility.”

At the same time, commodities offer more than just defence. If real assets begin to catch up to equities, they may also deliver meaningful upside.

"It's a part of your portfolio where perhaps you can have both conviction and a hedging effect," Lin says.

Battery technology sits differently. It is a higher-conviction, longer-duration thematic and one that belongs in the satellite sleeve.

"If you have that conviction, you can really comfortably put ACDC in that satellite sleeve of the portfolio.”

Looking ahead, Lin is unambiguous about where he sees the most underappreciated opportunity.

"I would really hone in on this EV, battery tech and lithium story as something that I think a lot of investors are underestimating."

After a difficult few years, sentiment remains cautious, but in Lin’s view, that is exactly what is creating the opportunity.

ETF

Global X Bloomberg Commodity Complex ETF (BCOM)

Alternative Assets

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ETF

Global X Physical Gold (GOLD)

Alternative Assets

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ETF

Global X Battery Tech and Lithium ETF (ACDC)

Global Shares

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