Gold and Silver Shielded Americans as the Fed Printed More

The Affordability Crisis! How things might be different if you had saved in gold and silver!

There is an affordability crisis.  It is hitting Americans hard.

It does no good to deny it.  What are people going to believe?  A bunch of mostly misleading government statistics?  Or their own daily experiences trying to keep the wolf from the door?

For those who have turned to gold instead of trusting the government’s printing press and digitally created bookkeeping entries, there is no affordability crisis.  While the purchasing power of gold has been racing ahead, the purchasing power of the dollar has been nothing short of a calamity for the American family.

Here’s some of the evidence.  A nationwide survey of 5,000 Americans reports that 

• More than half (52 percent) are struggling to pay bills including rent on time.  Just as many are struggling to pay for necessities like groceries.
   
• Tax refunds have become survival money rather than bonus money, with 73 percent saying they need their refund more than ever.
  
  
• 38 percent of Americans have been forced to move due to costs, with younger generations hit hardest; half of Gen Z relocated because they couldn’t afford where they lived.

Those bullet points are representative, not exhaustive.  The affordability crisis can be described with countless other examples.  The News York Fed reports that mortgage delinquencies are climbing fast in poorer neighborhoods where local economies are starting to crack.  Average U.S. residential electricity prices have been climbing fast for years.  For many, the depreciating dollar is doing profound damage to their retirement plans and lifestyles.

How might circumstances be different if middle class Americans had kept their saving and retirement funds in gold and silver?  

Things would have been quite different, indeed.  Even using the government’s woefully understated Consumer Price Index numbers, $100 dollars earned in 2020 buys less than $80 in goods and services today.  

The variables are many, but to get a rough idea of the advantages of depending on real money, we asked the A.I. service Grok to do some calculations for us.

Suppose a middle-class household saved $10,000 annually from 2020-2025 (total $60,000 nominal), converting to metals at year-end prices. We’ll compare purchasing power in early 2026 dollars.

Grok converted each $10,000 annual saving to gold ounces at year-end prices (using approximate historical closes: 2020 $1,899; 2021 $1,829; 2022 $1,823; 2023 $2,063; 2024 $2,624; 2025 $4,336).

The value of that $60,000 savings in gold, now in early 2026 with gold at a benchmark price of $5,000: 27.20 oz × $5,000 is $136,000.  

Here’s the same calculation for investing in silver.  Grok converted each $10,000 to silver ounces (approximate historical closes: 2020 $26.40; 2021 $23.30; 2022 $24.00; 2023 $24.00; 2024 $28.90; 2025 $76.25).

The value of that $60,000 savings in silver now in early 2026 using an $80/oz benchmark: 2,118.5 oz × $80 = $169,480 nominal.

The affordability crisis has been intensified for dollar savers.  Gold and silver investors have shielded themselves far beyond the nominal inflation rate.

Our example is for purposes of illustration only and represents hypothetical results.  We are not able to incorporate wide variables in dates of purchase or tax circumstances or the specific gold and silver products one prefers.  

But we can sum up the whole inquiry by saying that the dollar has been dishonestly managed by Washington and the Fed.  This deceit, which we call legalized counterfeiting, is now catching up with them.  

But they can’t print more gold and silver.

Find out more by speaking with a Republic Monetary Exchange precious metals professional.