I just reviewed gold prices, and I’m surprised by how little many investors truly understand their trajectory. Only a few months ago, they were hovering around $4,270 per ounce after marking consecutive all-time highs. But here’s the fascinating part: if you go back twenty years, the metal barely exceeded $400. We’re talking about a multiplication of more than ten times. The price of gold over the last 20 years tells a story that goes far beyond simple numbers.

What’s really interesting isn’t only that it has risen so much, but how it has done it. The annualized return is roughly 7% to 8% over the past decade, which is notable considering that gold generates no dividends or interest. Compared with the S&P 500 or Nasdaq, over the last five years the yellow metal has outperformed them. That doesn’t happen frequently over long periods.

If we break it down into stages, the story makes sense. Between 2005 and 2010, we lived through the boom era: weakness of the dollar, oil prices surging, and distrust following the subprime mortgage crisis. Gold went from 430 to more than $1,200 in five years. Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, and the metal confirmed its role as a definitive safe haven. Central banks and institutional funds began buying aggressively.

Then came the adjustment. Between 2010 and 2015, markets stabilized, the Fed began normalizing rates, and gold lost momentum. It moved sideways between $1,000 and $1,200. Technical, not structural. People forgot about it a bit, but it kept fulfilling its hedging function.

The real turning point was 2015-2020. Trade tensions between the Estados Unidos and China, public debt exploding, interest rates at historic lows. And then COVID-19 in 2020 acted as a catalyst. Gold surpassed $2,000 for the first time. It was the moment when many people awakened to its potential.

But the most spectacular part came afterward. Between 2020 and 2025, the metal went from $1,900 to more than $4,200. That’s a rise of 124% in just five years. From 2015 until now, we’re talking about an advance close to 295% in nominal terms. The price of gold over the last 20 years reflects something deeper than just inflation: it reflects growing uncertainty.

The comparison with stock indexes is revealing. The Nasdaq-100 is still the winner of the century with more than 5,000%, but look at what happened in 2008. While stocks crashed by more than 30%, gold only retreated about 2%. In 2020, when everything was grinding to a halt, it again acted as a refuge. That’s not a coincidence.

Why this happens has clear explanations. Negative real interest rates favor gold. A weak dollar drives it higher. Inflation and massive public spending benefit it. Geopolitical tensions support it. Central banks in emerging markets have increased their reserves as a way to reduce dependence on the dollar. Everything converges.

Now, how do you use this in a real portfolio? Gold shouldn’t be viewed as speculation, but as a tool for stability. Advisors often recommend allocating between 5% and 10% of total assets to physical gold, metal-backed ETFs, or funds that replicate it. In portfolios with very high exposure to equities, it works as insurance against volatility.

It also has an additional advantage that’s often underestimated: universal liquidity. In any market, at any time, it becomes cash without suffering the ups and downs of debt or capital restrictions. In times of monetary stress or financial uncertainty, that becomes especially valuable.

The conclusion is clear. Gold remains an unavoidable benchmark in finance. Its returns don’t depend on dividends or corporate balance sheets, but on something deeper: trust. When that trust is eroded by inflation, debt, politics, or conflicts, the metal moves back to the center of the stage. Over the last decade, it has competed with major stock indexes. Over the last five years, it has outperformed them. It’s not a coincidence: investors are looking for stability in a world that offers less and less of it. The price of gold over the last 20 years shows that it is not a substitute for growth or a promise of rapid wealth. It’s a silent hedge that appreciates when everything else falters. For anyone building balanced portfolios, it remains an essential piece of the global puzzle.