Yes, I always account for inflation as real returns are all that truly matter. Precise numbers may vary based on the data source.Riggerjack wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2017 7:37 pmUnless you are counting inflation. Adjusted for inflation, it comes to just over 6%.
So how does gold help?
Measured over the same timeframe, adding gold to the portfolio maintained a virtually identical real return as the stock market alone but with notably less volatility. Too many people think only in terms of a risk premium where lower volatility means lower returns, but portfolio theory with volatile uncorrelated assets is more sophisticated than that. The result is admittedly unintuitive, and I think a lot of rational people get hung up on the "how" and prefer investing methods where the returns mechanism is easier to understand. Which is just fine, BTW. My goal is simply to share a different way to look at the problem.
Circling back to the primary topic, I believe the positive effect that gold has on a portfolio is about a lot more than inflation. I don't know enough to explain every factor involved, but I personally find the evidence that it works pretty compelling.