The firm says investors should stick with U.S. equities, which have outperformed all developed as well as emerging markets, Mossavar-Rahmani said.
The United States has the largest GDP in the world, the largest GDP per capita of any major country, and the largest, broadest and most liquid financial markets, she noted.
It is also the only country that ranks in the top 10 globally for GDP, GDP per capita, and equity market cap, the firm said.
Goldman said its taxable moderate model portfolio has 38% in U.S.-based equities and 32.5% in investment-grade fixed income. The firm also recommends 15% in private equity and only 3% in hedge funds. Private equity offers more tax advantages than hedge funds, Mossavar-Rahmani told the audience.
The model doesn't include cryptocurrency investments, which she described as purely speculative and akin to betting money in Las Vegas.
“We don’t believe that the cryptocurrency market in general ... are actually investment asset classes,” she said. “People can use it if they want for total speculation, but it is not an investment and people should not be investing in cryptocurrency, in bitcoin, in the ETF as part of an investment portfolio.”
Finally, there are still risks that could impact Goldman’s outlook, and the top of that list is the Middle East war. The firm feared that should the war escalate, it could become a broader regional war and impact oil prices and risk outlook.
Ongoing risk factors include the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and simmering tensions between the U.S. and China, the firm said. Mossavar-Rahmani said a U.S. government shutdown or the pending presidential election this year should not impact the firm's outlook.
“If we end up with a divided government, our view is that the structural institutions, the strength of the U.S. in terms of its guardrails, do hold no matter who’s elected,” Mossavar-Rahmani said.