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progree

(11,463 posts)
4. In inflation-adjusted dollars: 1980 peak: $2241, now: $1566, down only 30% in the past nearly 40
Mon Jan 6, 2020, 06:56 PM
Jan 2020

Last edited Mon Jan 6, 2020, 11:31 PM - Edit history (2)

years. So it has only lost 30% of its purchasing power in the past nearly 40 years. That's pretty stable or something like that or thereabouts, I guess.

Not included: expenses of safely storing. Or the fees and expenses of a bullion fund like GLD (SPDR Gold Trust). Currently GLD's expense ratio is 0.4%/year which adds up over 40 years.

The inflation-adjusted S&P 500, the "Wall Street Casino" is up 7.64 fold over the same period, and that is just the index, it doesn't include reinvested dividends (nor does it include expenses).
https://www.macrotrends.net/2324/sp-500-historical-chart-data

(The $1566 gold price is from finance.yahoo.com closing price for 1/6/2020)

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