If I'd invested in silver since 2009
$1,000 put into silver at the end of 2009 would be worth about $1,738 today — a 1.74× return, or roughly 3.8% a year. Change the amount below to run your own number.
You'd have
$1,738
from $1,000 invested — up 74%.
The story behind the number
Silver since 2009 has been a bumpy road. $1,000 put in at the end of 2009 grew to $1,738 — a 1.74× return, or about 3.8% a year. The S&P 500 actually did better over the same years, turning that $1,000 into $6,656 — about 3.83× what this returned.
The ride mattered as much as the destination. The strongest single year was 2010, up 84%; the worst was 2013, down 35%.
Holding on took nerve: the position fell as much as 55% from its 2010 peak to its 2015 low and had not fully reclaimed that peak by the end of the window. Inflation takes a bite, too — consumer prices rose about 54% over the period, so in today's money the result is closer to 1.19× what you put in.
Common questions
- How much would I have if I'd invested $1,000 in silver in 2009?
- $1,000 invested in silver at the end of 2009 would be worth about $1,738 today — a 1.74× return, or roughly 3.8% per year.
- What were the best and worst years for silver since 2009?
- The best year was 2010, up about 84%. The toughest was 2013, when it fell about 35%. Across the window, 7 of 15 years finished lower than they started.
- What was the biggest drop along the way?
- The steepest decline was about 55%, from a peak in 2010 to a low in 2015, a level it had not fully recovered by the latest data.
- Would I have done better in S&P 500?
- Yes — the S&P 500 turned $1,000 into about $6,656, versus $1,738 for silver 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.
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