Before the Nixon era money was backed by gold, therefore you could have just held cash and that was technically worth a fixed amount of gold per dollar...we're far from that age now.
Buying gold is a fine idea for store of wealth, as it is a store of value asset. I do think that Bitcoin is the better equivalent though it does generally have the stigma that it is not as reliable as gold in the event of an energy/technological fall-out.
I wouldn't recommend buying and storing gold if:
- You will need to make it liquid again within 12 months (might as well use Bitcoin in this case)
- You can't securely store it, or you'll entrust someone else to.
I prefer Bitcoin though that doesn't mean gold too can't be used to beat fiat money deterioration/inflation.