However, 2004 should be remembered for a much more significant anniversary. On Nov 16 that year, the first gold ETF was launched. Gold had been traded for over 6,000 years. The ancient Egyptians used it as dowry. But, investors could only get exposure to gold by buying physical gold. This means that one had to hold on to coins, bars and gold certificates.
Most investors will remember 2004 as the year Facebook was launched. Mark Zuckerberg was then an 19-year-old Harvard student. He launched the website partly as a dating site. Zuckerberg was better at coding than courtship. He invested US$5,000 in the venture.
Facebook has powered more dates than Zuckerberg ever imagined. It went public in 2012. Now renamed as Meta, it is worth a shade under US$1 trillion ($1.33 trillion) in market cap.
