Investment advice from "Saturday Night Live"

It was exactly one year ago yesterday that "Saturday Night Live" ran a commercial parody of Monex Deposit Company, the precious metals investors. The skit featured Kristen Wiig as a well-dressed sophisticate whose obsession with gold reaches increasingly absurd levels, progressing from remarks about gold's dubious value ("Did you know that, in the past 12 years, the value of gold has gone up... a little bit?") to washing her face in gold, drinking Florida Gold orange juice, and donning a gold colored scarf because "it's getting gold outside." Like most "SNL," skits, it was either hilarious or stupid, depending on your mood. (Sorry, we can't show you the spoof, but feel free to check out the original Monex commercial on which it's based.)

The weird thing is, if you had listened to that insane woman and invested in gold when commodities trading opened the following Monday, you would be 53% richer today: On March 17, 2007, gold was trading at just over $650 per ounce. Yesterday, gold reached a record level of $1,034 before settling down around $1,003.

Meanwhile, Frank Holmes, chief executive officer at U.S. Global Investors, recently told CBS Marketwatch that, with oil prices on the rise and the dollar weakening, the precious metal may even hit $2,000 per ounce. Maybe it really is getting gold outside.