A dollar kept as cash since 1971 has lost most of its value. The same dollar held in gold has multiplied many times over.

Name: Held as gold (charted by MacroSnaps)
Creator: LBMA gold price, 3-month T-bill returns (Damodaran, NYU Stern), US BLS CPI (2026)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Held as gold1,415(2026)Cash earning interest135(2026)Cash under the mattress12(2026)

What one 1971 dollar is worth now, after inflation (1971 = 100, log scale). Under the mattress it is worth 12 cents; earning interest, about $1.35. In gold it has grown about 14 times.

Why this is happening

Gold cannot be printed, so its supply grows only slowly while paper money can be created at will. Since 1971 the dollar has been backed by nothing but trust, and it has steadily bought less.
That fixed scarcity is why, over long stretches, gold has held its footing against everyday goods, even as the cash price of everything climbed.
But gold pays no interest and swings violently: it lost most of its real value between 1980 and 2000 before roaring back. The long-run protection comes with a stomach-churning ride.

The take

Gold is no one's idea of a calm, compounding investment; it earns nothing and lurches around for decades. But it cannot be printed, and that scarcity has guarded the purchasing power that cash quietly gives away. An ounce bought a fine toga in Rome and still buys a good suit today. Judge gold as insurance against currencies, not as a smooth way to grow richer.

Source: LBMA gold price, 3-month T-bill returns (Damodaran, NYU Stern), US BLS CPI (2026)

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<a href="https://macrosnaps.app/c/gold-purchasing-power">
  <img src="https://macrosnaps.app/charts/gold-purchasing-power.png" alt="What one 1971 dollar is worth now, after inflation (1971 = 100, log scale). Under the mattress it is worth 12 cents; earning interest, about $1.35. In gold it has grown about 14 times." width="640" style="max-width:100%;height:auto">
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<p style="font:12px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;color:#6b7280;max-width:640px">
  Chart: <a href="https://macrosnaps.app/c/gold-purchasing-power">MacroSnaps</a>,
  <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>. Source: LBMA gold price, 3-month T-bill returns (Damodaran, NYU Stern), US BLS CPI (2026).
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Cite it

Cites MacroSnaps for the chart. For the numbers themselves, cite the source below.

MacroSnaps (2026). "A dollar kept as cash since 1971 has lost most of its value. The same dollar held in gold has multiplied many times over." Edition No. 110, 29 October 2026. https://macrosnaps.app/c/gold-purchasing-power

Permanent link: https://macrosnaps.app/c/gold-purchasing-power

The underlying data

MacroSnaps drew this chart. The numbers in it are published by LBMA gold price, 3-month T-bill returns (Damodaran, NYU Stern), US BLS CPI (2026). Their terms, not ours, govern the underlying data.