If I'd invested in gold since 2001
$1,000 put into gold at the end of 2001 would be worth about $15,111 today — a 15.1× return, or roughly 11.8% a year. Change the amount below to run your own number.
You'd have
$15,111
from $1,000 invested — up 1411%.
The story behind the number
Gold since 2001 has been a remarkably smooth ride. $1,000 put in at the end of 2001 grew to $15,111 — a 15.1× return, or about 11.8% a year. That beat the S&P 500, which turned the same $1,000 into $6,490 — you'd have come out roughly 2.33× ahead of simply buying the index.
The ride mattered as much as the destination. The strongest single year was 2026, up 13%; the worst was 2008, down 17%.
Holding on took nerve: the position fell as much as 42% from its 2011 peak to its 2015 low, before climbing back above that high by 2016. Inflation takes a bite, too — consumer prices rose about 88% over the period, so in today's money the result is closer to 8.03× what you put in.
Common questions
- How much would I have if I'd invested $1,000 in gold in 2001?
- $1,000 invested in gold at the end of 2001 would be worth about $15,111 today — a 15.1× return, or roughly 11.8% per year.
- What were the best and worst years for gold since 2001?
- The best year was 2026, up about 13%. The toughest was 2008, when it fell about 17%. Across the window, 132 of 294 years finished lower than they started.
- What was the biggest drop along the way?
- The steepest decline was about 42%, from a peak in 2011 to a low in 2015, with the value recovering above its prior high by 2016.
- Would I have done better in S&P 500?
- No — the S&P 500 turned $1,000 into about $6,490 over the same window, while gold reached $15,111. Gold came out ahead.
The chart above shows the whole journey, not just the destination. Try switching to a bit each year to see how spreading your buying would have changed the outcome — or skip the latte to find out what a small daily habit could have grown into instead.
More gold scenarios
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