Can gold and silver deliver another outstanding year in returns?

THERE is a song, first recorded in the 1950s, which laments: “Silver threads and golden needles cannot mend this heart of mine.” This line is indeed appropriate for investors who did not have gold or silver in their portfolios in 2025.

Gold returned 64.6 per cent in 2025, and silver, seen as the poor relation to gold, did even better – an outstanding 149.6 per cent return.

Although gold captures the modern imagination, it is silver that has ruled supreme for centuries as a store of value. In OG stores, a sign in Chinese at the cashier desk translates to “pay silver here”. The Chinese for bank – yin hang – is all about silver.