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I don't consider gold as an investment in the traditional sense, but it does form a tranche of my overall net worth.

Various miners do form a reasonable chunk of my equity portfolio.

Today:

Gold at $4,534 per troy oz

Silver at $72.48 per troy oz

While US pennies nickels and dimes ain't worth squat, those old silver quarters are approaching a $20 bill in just their metallic content.

Back when I was a kid, some US banknotes were "Federal Reserve Notes" and some were "Silver Certificates" which could be exchanged for .77+ oz of silver per dollar. As the practice was coming to an end, in 1968, I took 22 one dollar bills to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (a subway ride from my high school) and ended up with a plastic bag full of about 17 ounces of silver. It's in some drawer, somewhere, but is now worth $1,228 or an increase of 55X.

That said, I picked up a US $20 gold piece (about .97 troy oz of gold) in Amsterdam in 1973 for about $75 (it was still technically illegal to own one in the US). That has appreciated about 59X

Not quite apples to apples, but both seem to have performed pretty well compared to inflation.

Jeff

I took 22 one dollar bills to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (a subway ride from my high school) and ended up with a plastic bag full of about 17 ounces of silver. It's in some drawer, somewhere, but is now worth $1,228 or an increase of 55X.

My dad did the same, on one of his trips to NYC. A few years ago, I looked at it, and the granules and flakes had turned sort of reddish. I couldn't believe my dad hadn't tried to cash that silver in when the Hunt boys were trying to corner the silver market. I tried to sell it, and the guy at the gold and silver shop said it would need to be assayed, and the assay would cost a good chunk of what the silver might be worth. No sale, as the guy really wasn't interested. Some years ago, I told that story on the Fool, and one of the other guys PM'd me saying he would like to buy the bag. So away the bag of silver went.

Steve

"I don't consider gold as an investment in the traditional sense"

Yeah I agree.
https://www.macrotrends.net/1333/historical-gold-p...
Looking at the chart at the link; for my money 2015 thru 2018 was the last buying opportunity. YMMV

For those that bought gold in 1985; they had to wait 17 years to break even.

I’m a geezer. Lived through stagflation in the 1970’s, Black Thursday 1987, dot.com & real estate bubble bursts. OK today might be different but I don’t believe so. YMMV

I also believe AI is in bubble territory and we will have a blow out. Hopefully I have adequate liquid assets and will survive the resulting stock market decline and duration.

No precious metals for me. Again YMMV

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