There’s a great piece of recent analysis from The Gold Bullion Company^ comparing the returns on £1,000 invested in gold versus a standard high street savings account over the last ten years.
Gold has clearly outperformed cash savings, with a difference of nearly £2,000 over a decade.
So if you’ve spent the last ten years letting a bank “look after” your money, you’ve missed out.
What the Data Shows
Their research tracks £1,000 from April 2015 to April 2025. If you left that in a typical savings account, you’d now have about £1,180.84, an 18% return over ten years. That’s barely enough to outpace inflation, let alone change your life.
Meanwhile, that same £1,000 put into gold (fees included) would be worth £2,977.87.
Even on a 12-month view, gold’s up around 25%, while the best-performing cash ISA gave you £41 in profit. £41! You’d earn more flipping stuff on eBay in a weekend.
So Why Are Most People Still Saving, Not Investing?
Because banks have done a brilliant job convincing people that saving equals safety. And to some extent, that’s true. Cash is protected, predictable, and available on demand. But it’s also a guaranteed way to watch your money lose purchasing power year after year.
Gold isn’t perfect, it doesn’t pay interest, it can be volatile, and you can’t tap it for a coffee in town. But as a long-term store of value, it’s hard to argue with results like this.
And crucially, gold isn’t meant to replace your savings, it’s meant to complement them. Especially when central banks spend a decade keeping interest rates near zero while inflating asset prices elsewhere.
Things to Keep in Mind
Gold isn’t a magical fix. There are costs to consider, storage fees around 0.65% plus VAT, dealer charges, and the importance of buying from reputable sources. Tax implications vary too, with certain coins like Britannias offering CGT and VAT exemptions for UK investors.
Savings accounts have their own drawbacks as well, including teaser rates, interest caps, and the catch that you only truly benefit if the money remains untouched.
What stands out most is this contrast, a flawed but transparent asset versus a flawed and often disappointing system.
So What’s the Point?
This isn’t financial advice. You shouldn’t dump your emergency fund into gold. But you should probably stop assuming that your savings account is doing you any favours.
The average saver in the UK is earning less than inflation, still, despite rates supposedly “normalising.” The numbers from this research make it painfully clear, sitting in cash, year after year, is effectively choosing to be poorer in the future.
Gold might not be for everyone, but doing nothing clearly isn’t working. Saving isn’t supposed to feel like losing.