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If you’ve tuned in AM radio or surfed the Net for investment advice lately, you’ve probably encountered the “gold bugs.”

They’re the investors who squirrel away gold, saying it’s the only safe investment as the worldwide economy slides off the toilet seat with a resounding splash. It’s a safe-haven investment, they say. And once things get really, really bad, gold prices will soar through the roof.

My advice? Don’t let the gold bugs bite.

Sure, we’ve got a worldwide economic crisis on our hands, and the stock market is scarier-looking than Christina Aguilera’s latest makeup job. But let’s think this through.

If you’re reading this paper, you’ve probably got 30, 40, maybe closer to 50 years to retirement. You want investments that generate income. True, you can’t wear stock certificates around your neck like a platinum chain for street cred, but stocks sure will give you a better long-term return on your money.

And you’ve got plenty of time to ride out the current recession. Sure it’ll be painful to look at those 401(k) statements, but experts said make sure you’re diversified and in a smart mix of funds, and ultimately things will look up.

“In no period in our history has the stock market failed to generate positive income over that kind of time,” said Matthew Bell, vice president of Cross Financial Services. “Even 20 years out from the Great Depression, people were making money in the market again.”

And that thing the gold bugs keep saying about gold prices jumping through the roof because the economy is now buried in Fluffy’s litter box?

It hasn’t happened.

Gold hit a high of $1,000 a troy ounce early this year, but it’s since fallen to a little more than $770. The weak dollar and low oil prices appear to be edging gold prices back up, but experts said there’s no guarantee it will skyrocket.

“Gold is being pulled down by indiscriminate selling of virtually every asset,” Jeffrey Nichols, managing director of American Precious Metals Advisors, told the Associated Press last month. “You could call it collateral damage.”

And if history is any lesson, gold can lose value just as quickly as it gains it. After reaching a record high of $850 an ounce in 1980, its value tumbled to $250 an ounce by 1999. Ouch.

If you really want to invest in gold, fine. But Bell and other experts recommend making it just one of your investments. Keep that 401(k), keep those mutual funds, keep that diversity.

“In this environment, people want a silver bullet,” Bell said. “They’re looking for that one thing that can save their portfolio. But I wouldn’t say it’s a prudent thing for anyone, especially someone in their 20s, to load up big on gold right now.”