[gridlockd]

> In terms of actual return it depends when you pick your start and end date

Exactly. The 20 years range is cherrypicked for to make gold look good, it doesn't generalize.

If you had bought stock (and reinvested dividends) at the top of the market in 2008, you would've been better off with stock today. If you had bought gold at the top in 2011, you would've been better off with stock today. If you had bought gold at the bottom in 2008, you would've been better off with stock today.

Really, the only times where gold would've outperformed (to date) in the last 50+ years is around the time of the dotcom bubble and the last ~2 years.

Realistically though, you're going to buy the market at its highs and lows, you're going to exit at some point when you need to, so it's highly subjective.