If I'd invested in gold since 2008
$1,000 put into gold at the end of 2008 would be worth about $4,789 today — a 4.79× return, or roughly 9.4% a year. Change the amount below to run your own number.
You'd have
$4,789
from $1,000 invested — up 379%.
The story behind the number
Gold since 2008 has been a remarkably smooth ride. $1,000 put in at the end of 2008 grew to $4,789 — a 4.79× return, or about 9.4% a year. The S&P 500 actually did better over the same years, turning that $1,000 into $8,220 — about 1.72× what this returned.
The ride mattered as much as the destination. The strongest single year was 2026, up 13%; the worst was 2026, down 11%.
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 58% over the period, so in today's money the result is closer to 3.03× what you put in.
Common questions
- How much would I have if I'd invested $1,000 in gold in 2008?
- $1,000 invested in gold at the end of 2008 would be worth about $4,789 today — a 4.79× return, or roughly 9.4% per year.
- What were the best and worst years for gold since 2008?
- The best year was 2026, up about 13%. The toughest was 2026, when it fell about 11%. Across the window, 100 of 210 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?
- Yes — the S&P 500 turned $1,000 into about $8,220, versus $4,789 for gold over the same window.
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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