Free tool · Historical data 1972–2025
What adding gold does to a retirement portfolio
Most people don't swap their savings for gold. They add a slice of it to a normal mix of stocks and bonds, mainly so the bad years hurt less. Here's what that slice did, year by year, since 1972.
9.7%
average yearly return for a 60/40 mix with 10% gold, versus 9.4% without it.
−16%
its biggest peak-to-bottom drop, versus −21% for the same mix without gold.
8of 11
years stocks fell in which the mix with gold lost less.
4.1%
a year through the 2000s “lost decade,” when stocks returned −1.0% and the mix without gold 2.9%.
Annual returns 1972–2025, rebalanced yearly, before fund costs and taxes. Past results don't predict future ones.
Growth of $100,000
Hypothetical illustration using historical returns, after the costs shown and before taxes. It isn't a forecast or a recommendation.
Every period, not just one
10-year results for every starting year since 1972
Any single period can flatter one choice. This shows the worst, the middle, and the best result for each, across all of them.
What the record shows
| Portfolio, 1972–2025 | Average yearly return (before costs) | Biggest drop | Losing years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard mix with 10% gold | 9.7% | −16.1% | — |
| Standard mix (60% stocks, 40% bonds) | 9.4% | −20.8% | — |
| All stocks (S&P 500, dividends reinvested) | 11.1% | −37.4% | 11 of 54 |
| All gold | 8.9% | −53.5% | 19 of 54 |
- Gold earns its place in the bad years. Stocks fell in 11 years after 1972. Gold rose in 7 of them, including 1973, 1974, 2002 and 2008, and the mix holding some gold lost less in 8.
- The rough decades are where it showed up most. From 2000 through 2009 stocks went nowhere, and the mix with 10% gold returned about 4.1% a year against 2.9% without it. From 1973 through 1982, a decade of high inflation, it was 9.3% against 6.9%.
- In calm stretches it costs a little. When stocks ran hard, as in the 1990s, a gold slice usually trailed slightly. Across all 45 ten-year periods, the mix with gold finished ahead in 18. Think of it the way you'd think of insurance.
- On its own, gold is a rough ride. All-in gold fell about 54% from 1980 to 2000 on year-end prices and didn't top its 1980 level again until 2006. That's why most people who own it hold a slice, not the whole portfolio.
How this is calculated
Annual returns for 1972 through 2025 come from the dataset compiled by Professor Aswath Damodaran of NYU Stern School of Business: the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested, 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds, and the price of gold. We start in 1972, the first full year after the U.S. stopped converting dollars to gold at a fixed price. Portfolios are rebalanced once a year.
- Mix with gold: the gold share you pick, with the rest split 60/40 between stocks and bonds, less 0.25% a year for low-cost funds.
- Standard mix and all stocks: less 0.2% and 0.1% a year for index funds.
- All in gold (gold IRA): the amount, less a setup fee and the dealer markup, buys gold; yearly custodian and storage fees come out each year; the selling spread comes off at the end.
- Returns aren't adjusted for inflation and are before taxes. Indexes can't be bought directly, and real results differ.
Source: Damodaran Online, Historical Returns on Stocks, Bonds and Bills (January 2026 update). Past performance doesn't predict future results.
Common questions
Does adding some gold help?
Over the whole 1972–2025 stretch, yes on both counts that matter to most retirees: a slightly higher average return and a smaller worst drop. Over shorter 10-year windows it's mixed. A gold slice helped most in rough decades and trailed a little in calm ones.
How much gold do people usually hold?
There's no single right number. Some planners talk about something like 5% to 10% of a portfolio, but that's a view, not advice for you. Our guide on how much gold to hold covers how to think it through.
Can this tell me what gold will do next?
No, and nobody can. It shows what happened in every past period, which is a more honest guide than one average or a sales projection.
Why does the all-in-gold line trail gold's price?
Costs. There's a markup when you buy, custodian and storage fees each year, and a spread when you sell. On smaller accounts those flat fees take a bigger bite.
Why start in 1972?
Before August 1971 the U.S. government converted dollars to gold at a fixed price, so earlier gold returns don't reflect a free market.