--- title: 'Gold vs. Stocks: As Both Hit Record Highs, What''s Performing Better for Investors?' description: Gold prices and stocks are at record highs in 2024. In terms of investment performance, how does gold compare to S&P 500 index funds? authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 602 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-07-15T15:48:15.000Z' modified: '2024-10-28T20:31:43.000Z' section: Investing tags: - News word_count: 400 canonical: https://money.com/gold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo collage of two hands holding a gold bar with a stock chart in the background](https://img.money.com/2024/03/News-Stock-Versus-Gold-Investment.jpg) Presented by: ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/25986/2c76d731-1061-4ab9-8e2e-2b3babd3d37e.png) American Hartford Gold can help you safeguard your retirement with a Gold IRA. [Go to AmericanHartfordGold.com](https://money.com/pr/r4e91d61d8dc?ap_referrer=%2Fgold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024%2F) The [price of gold](https://money.com/what-drives-the-price-of-gold/) and the [S&P 500](https://money.com/what-is-the-sp-500-index/) have had strong first halves of the year, and they're up roughly the same amount — 17 to 18%. As both assets have reached new all-time highs in 2024, you may be wondering which is the better investment. First off, the reality is you don’t have to choose: A diversified investing portfolio typically includes a mix of stocks and bonds, and some experts recommend including [gold investments](https://money.com/how-to-invest-in-gold/) as a "safe haven" asset as well (usually no more than 5 to 10% of your portfolio). Gold, which is trading around $2,414 per troy ounce, is up 17.2% so far this year and 23.3% over the last 12 months, partially due to expectations for interest rate cuts and [high levels of central bank buying](https://money.com/gold-price-all-time-high/). There’s usually an inverse relationship between the price of the precious metal and interest rates. When interest rates are high, opportunities in fixed-income investments can pull investors away from gold. Also, high interest rates strengthen the dollar, which tends to hurt gold as the metal is considered an inflation hedge. With all that in mind, it’s no surprise that gold is trading at a high level as the odds of interest rate cuts rise. ## Gold vs. stocks: Which is the better investment? Stocks have generally performed better than gold over the years, but there can be exceptions. Looking back 20 years, for example, gold has outperformed the S&P 500. However, the historical data doesn't mean that stocks are guaranteed to have higher returns going forward, as past performance is no indication of what's going to happen next. Here’s a look at how gold and stocks have performed over time: ## Gold vs. S&P 500 — Year-to-date - Gold: $2,059 to $2,414 (+17.2%) - S&P 500: 4743 to 5590 (+17.9%) ## Gold vs. S&P 500 — 3 years - Gold: $1,808 to $2,414 (+33.5%) - S&P 500: 4370 to 5590 (+27.9%) ## Gold vs. S&P 500 — 5 years - Gold: $1,404 to $2,414 (+72%) - S&P 500: 3000 to 5590 (+86.3%) ## Gold vs. S&P 500 — 20 years - Gold: $407 to $2,414 (+492.8%) - S&P 500: 1113 to 5590 (+402.3%) ## Gold vs. S&P 500 — 40 years - Gold: $339 to $2,414 (+611.7%) - S&P 500: 151 to 5590 (+3,613%) ## American Hartford Gold can help protect your financial future ### Trust American Hartford Gold to help protect against market volatility and inflation. Get started by clicking below. [SEE DETAILS](https://money.com/pr/m04e6ab852d9?ap_referrer=%2Fgold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024%2F) Terms and conditions apply. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gold", "item": "https://money.com/gold/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Gold vs. Stocks: As Both Hit Record Highs, What's Performing Better for Investors?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/gold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024/", "name": "Gold vs. Stocks: As Both Hit Record Highs, What's Performing Better for Investors?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-07-15T15:48:15.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-10-28T20:31:43.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Gold vs. Stocks: As Both Hit Record Highs, What's Performing Better for Investors?", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/03/News-Stock-Versus-Gold-Investment.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2000, "caption": "News-Stock-Versus-Gold-Investment" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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