I would have answer  pretty much the same thing as you. You can't tell a people what to do when it is about invesments. If they listen to you and earn money, ok, it is all fine but if they lose money, most of time, they will say it is your fault, they shouldn't listen to you and blablabla.
If I was in their position, just to save money I would pick gold. Less risk, no need technical knowledge and you can sleep well .
If they can risk to lose some money, just buy both. On one side, you have something stable but with less profits, in the other side something less stable but you can earn really good profits. Don't put all your money in one basket.