If I'd invested in silver since 2017
$1,000 put into silver at the end of 2017 would be worth about $1,728 today — a 1.73× return, or roughly 8.1% a year. Change the amount below to run your own number.
You'd have
$1,728
from $1,000 invested — up 73%.
The story behind the number
Silver since 2017 has been a fairly steady climb. $1,000 put in at the end of 2017 grew to $1,728 — a 1.73× return, or about 8.1% a year. The S&P 500 actually did better over the same years, turning that $1,000 into $2,780 — about 1.61× what this returned.
The ride mattered as much as the destination. The strongest single year was 2020, up 47%; the worst was 2021, down 12%.
Holding on took nerve: the position fell as much as 12% from its 2020 peak to its 2021 low, before climbing back above that high by 2024. Inflation takes a bite, too — consumer prices rose about 35% over the period, so in today's money the result is closer to 1.35× what you put in.
Common questions
- How much would I have if I'd invested $1,000 in silver in 2017?
- $1,000 invested in silver at the end of 2017 would be worth about $1,728 today — a 1.73× return, or roughly 8.1% per year.
- What were the best and worst years for silver since 2017?
- The best year was 2020, up about 47%. The toughest was 2021, when it fell about 12%. Across the window, 3 of 7 years finished lower than they started.
- What was the biggest drop along the way?
- The steepest decline was about 12%, from a peak in 2020 to a low in 2021, with the value recovering above its prior high by 2024.
- Would I have done better in S&P 500?
- Yes — the S&P 500 turned $1,000 into about $2,780, versus $1,728 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.
More silver scenarios
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