GLD DCA Backtest
If you'd invested $700 every month, how long to $1M?
GLD (SPDR Gold Shares) gives you the effect of investing in physical gold. State Street launched it in 2004, and it tracks the spot price of gold through a trust that actually holds gold bars in storage. It's not a stock — it's a commodity (gold) product — which makes it fundamentally different in character from the other tickers on this site.
Even over the full period, that's about $607.93K today · invested $182.7K · annualized +10%
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GLD is a claim on a gold vault, not a company
Buy one share of GLD and you effectively own a claim on a slice of the gold bars sitting in a vault. Unlike a stock ETF that tracks an index, GLD's value has nothing to do with any company's earnings or growth — it moves purely with the international price of gold. That also means no dividends and no interest, because gold itself is an asset that doesn't generate any yield.
Storage and management costs are reflected the way any expense ratio is — a small amount skimmed from assets each year. The core appeal of GLD is that you can buy and sell it just like a stock, without the hassle of buying and storing physical gold yourself.
Why hold gold in a portfolio at all
Gold has traditionally been seen as an asset with low correlation to stocks and bonds. Money tends to flow into gold when equity markets get shaky or confidence in currencies wavers, which is why it's often described as 'resilient in a crisis' or 'a hedge against inflation.'
That correlation isn't constant, though. Depending on interest rates, dollar strength, and market sentiment, gold has fallen alongside stocks at times, and it's also had long stretches of going essentially nowhere. Rather than relying on a simple formula like 'gold always rises when stocks fall,' it's more realistic to treat it as a supporting asset you hold for diversification.
Not a growth asset — a value-preservation asset
Stock ETFs like SPY and QQQ are built around the expectation that a company's assets grow in value over the long run as it earns profits and expands. Gold doesn't create new value the same way — its price is set by its scarcity and by shifting demand and sentiment. Over very long horizons, that's meant gold has often trailed stocks in return.
That character can show up in the numbers in the result box above too. It helps to understand gold less as 'an asset for growing your money significantly' and more as 'an asset for smoothing out the swings in your overall portfolio.'
Taxes, accumulating, and a few things to keep in mind
GLD is a U.S.-listed ETF, and how capital gains on it are taxed depends entirely on your country of residence and personal situation — this isn't tax advice, so it's worth checking with a local tax professional. Because GLD pays no dividends, there's no dividend tax to worry about, but keep in mind the entire price gain is treated as a capital gain when you sell.
Since GLD is priced in dollars, as a USD investor there's no currency conversion involved — the price of gold itself is what matters. And if your goal is to grow your wealth over time, it's far more common to hold a small slice of gold alongside stock-based assets for diversification than to accumulate in gold alone. Past returns don't guarantee the future; this article is for information, not investment advice.
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This content is for informational purposes and is not investment advice or a recommendation. You are solely responsible for your investment decisions.