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GLDNGUN In my examples, I picked common everyday stocks and the indexes so if you just bought an S&P mutual fund. Notice I didn't include any tech stocks.

Although the price of gold in 1980 was the big high point, and a little unfair to use that price, I have a major distinctions. It's been 25 years since gold peaked! In 2025, 25 years after the March 2000 peak of the Dow, the Dow will be MUCH MUCH higher than its peak of 11722. Additionally, I picked another date, in 1990. Even the very very lowest point of the 1980s gold was at $300.

SIMON SAYS WHAT You ALMOST make a convincing arguement, but there are 2 key details that are being ignored:

Your chart begins in 1971 with the 2-tiered system, but in people weren't allowed to own gold until 1975, when it was already about $175/ oz.

The second thing is you need to compile both timelines. If you bought gold in 1975 you have about 3 times your money today (not accounting for inflation). If you bought an S&P mutual fund in 1975, at about 90 and it's 1275, you'd have about 14 times your money.

You ALMOST make a convincing arguement

Gee... Thanks !

Your chart begins in 1971 with the 2-tiered system, but in people weren't allowed to own gold until 1975, when it was already about $175/ oz.

I have to admit I was not aware of this so I did a little research. President Ford signed the bill authorizing the private ownership of Gold on August 15, 1974. However, legal ownership aside, Gold still outperformed the S&P 500 by 2000% (20x) from 1971 to 1980. Non-US citizens and organizations were allowed to buy Gold and it drove the price up starting in 1971 when Richard Nixon closed the Gold Window. Gold is legal today for private citizens to own and profit from price appreciation.

The second thing is you need to compile both timelines.

Here is the chart of Gold and the S&P 500 going back to 1971. Based on price performance only, without dividends from any stocks re-invested, they are virtually even in performance. Gold was the superior investment from 1971 to roughly 1993 when dividends re-invested in the S&P 500 more than likely would have made up for its underperformance of Gold.

Gold = Green S&P 500 = Blue

In 2025, 25 years after the March 2000 peak of the Dow, the Dow will be MUCH MUCH higher than its peak of 11722.

I agree by 2025 the DOW will be higher than 11722 but by how much ? And when will it move considerably higher than 11722 ? Will it be next year or 15 years from now? The chart below show the DOW going back to 1929 you can see that the DOW reached a long term peak in 1966 that it did not significantly exceed until 1984. It took 18 years to start a new bull market in the DOW following the previous peak.

Yes, you are selective in the stocks, years, etc., you selected, just as a gold bug could pick 1999 and say "what has better returns since - gold or stocks?"

I am not anti-stocks. Not at all. There are indeed profits to be made if you know what you are doing or have someone advising you that knows what they are doing. I also believe gold can be a good investment and it's wise to have it as a part of a portfolio. And, no, I have no gold for sale.

You will never find me mocking stock investors or doing cartwheels when the stock market dips. That's why I can't understand the people who find so much joy when gold slides for a day, even though it doesn't profit them a nickle. Can you explain that?