You choose the amount of leverage you would like to use.  If you want to start with no leverage, then the 1X ETFs are the ones you choose.  You own SPY when the DGR is rising and you own GLD when it is falling.  If you want to enhance your returns, you can choose 2X with SSO and DGP or 3X with UPRO and UGLD.  Don’t feel like you have to use leverage is you are not comfortable with the volatility of the leveraged ETFs.

You could also start with 1X ETFs and then later you can add the leveraged products as you add more money to your investments.  The returns in the leveraged products can be sort of surprising.  Take a look at the returns as of 7/21/17.

One Year returns:

1X SPY  16.48%

2X SSO 32.45%

3X UPRO 50.7%

 

Two Year Cumulative Returns:

1X SPY 21.54%

2X SSO 38.24%

3X UPRO 53.97%

 

Three Year Cumulative Returns:

1X SPY 32.98%

2X SSO 61.03%

3X UPRO 89.14%

 

Four Year Cumulative Returns:

1X SPY 58.17%

2X SSO 122.36%

3X UPRO 202.22%

Think about the four year returns.  You more than doubled your investments in SSO and more than tripled them in UPRO.  How would your retirement look to you if you had tripled the value of your money over the last four years?  With these kinds of returns you can retire sooner.

While now is not the time to invest in gold, the current symbols for the Gold ETFs are:

1X GLD

2x DGP

3x UGLD