On January first of 2000, Gold was trading for $272 a Troy ounce. Gold closed out 2020 at $1,889. Back in 2000, we were sending out emails by the thousands almost begging people to “Buy Gold, Buy Gold Now.”
Back then, a $100,000 investment would buy 367 ounces of Gold. Clients who followed our advice would find their original investment worth $694,485 today.*
If you haven’t owned a chunk of physical Gold in the 21st Century, you may be watching too much Fox Business or CNBC. Worse yet, you be reading newspapers and New York business media almost solely devoted to hyping Stocks. Gold is pretty much ignored as an investment.
“We seriously doubt you’ve read much about the quiet, boring, low tech, non-green investment, Gold outperforming U.S. Stocks this century.”
Let’s face it, Gold is boring. It just sits quietly in a vault growing more valuable— until one day you need it. Typically, writers will find a hot Gold mining stock or Silver mining stock and write about it. The rapidly rising price for the physical metals will be mentioned almost incidentally. So, we’ll share the good news for 2020 with you.
In 2020 Gold is Up 23.91% Silver Soared 47.25%
In case you’re thinking Gold and Silver did great this year just because of the fear-buying driven by the Coronavirus Pandemic, we’ll prove otherwise. Here’s a long-term chart comparing Gold, Silver, and major U.S. Market indexes in the 21st Century. $COMPQ is the NASDAQ index and $INDU is the DOW Industrials index.
The inclusion of Gold in a typical portfolio has provided investors with excellent returns in the 21st Century and appears likely to do very well as the pandemic drones on in 2021.
Now let’s look at Silver Up 387% This Century
Investing in Silver is very different from investing in Gold. They are almost never in sync, but will tend to rise or fall together over long periods. When you invest in Silver, you see sharp rises and steep declines on a daily or weekly basis.
Gold has provided a better defensive investment during Stock Market Crashes in the 21st Century. Silver has speculative aspects and will have years of almost unbelievable price increases like 2020 gains exceeding 47%.
Today, Silver is trading far below the all time high of $50 an ounce and appears poised to break that record. A mix of both Gold and Silver has almost always been our recommendation.
Buy Gold, Buy Silver, Maybe
Warning: These charts may make you want to go out and sell your Stocks and move all your life savings into Gold and Silver. DON’T even think about it!
Gold and Silver offer balance and diversification to a well-planned portfolio. Most clients have traditionally bought physical Gold and Silver for privacy, safety, and security in the worse case scenarios. Precious metals may or may not fit your individual needs.
In the 21st Century a core holding of up to 10% of your liquid assets in precious metals may provide an excellent alternative to holding Bonds, CDs, or cash paying little to nothing.
In our opinion, precious metals have a long way to go up.
* In comparing a $100,000 investment in January 1, 2000 to today’s value of $694,485, we did not deduct the premiums you would pay over the melt value of Gold or take into account a $50 or so annual cost of a bank safety deposit box. We also did not include the free “peace of mind” you would have had owning Gold during the three Stock Market meltdowns of the 21st Century.