If I'd invested in gold since 2018
$1,000 put into gold at the end of 2018 would be worth about $3,286 today — a 3.29× return, or roughly 17.4% a year. Change the amount below to run your own number.
You'd have
$3,286
from $1,000 invested — up 229%.
The story behind the number
Gold since 2018 has been a remarkably smooth ride. $1,000 put in at the end of 2018 grew to $3,286 — a 3.29× return, or about 17.4% a year. That beat the S&P 500, which turned the same $1,000 into $2,968 — you'd have come out roughly 1.11× 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 2026, down 11%.
Holding on took nerve: the position fell as much as 20% from its 2026 peak to its 2026 low and had not fully reclaimed that peak by the end of the window. Inflation takes a bite, too — consumer prices rose about 32% over the period, so in today's money the result is closer to 2.49× what you put in.
Common questions
- How much would I have if I'd invested $1,000 in gold in 2018?
- $1,000 invested in gold at the end of 2018 would be worth about $3,286 today — a 3.29× return, or roughly 17.4% per year.
- What were the best and worst years for gold since 2018?
- The best year was 2026, up about 13%. The toughest was 2026, when it fell about 11%. Across the window, 41 of 90 years finished lower than they started.
- What was the biggest drop along the way?
- The steepest decline was about 20%, from a peak in 2026 to a low in 2026, a level it had not fully recovered by the latest data.
- Would I have done better in S&P 500?
- No — the S&P 500 turned $1,000 into about $2,968 over the same window, while gold reached $3,286. 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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