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Message:: [QUOTE="medoraman, post: 1222558, member: 26302"]I am not stuck on anything. I am pointing out a period in which the vast majority would have been underwater if they had bought then and tried to sell a few years later. You are the one using theoretical buying at year lows and selling at year highs to make your case. Of course if someone has perfect market timing in almost any real life market scenario you can make money. OVERALL, using average pricing that most people would have experienced, they would have lost money during this 20 year period. Its a generality supported by the generally declining market. My uncle thought he knew something, and listened to all of the "gold experts" in the mid 80's how it HAS to go back up. His health failed in the late 90's and sold for dramatic losses. I am arguing his was the norm of this period, not the exception. He needed cash, and did not have a year or two to wait for a market correction. Another thing not talked about here, but newcomers need to know, is PM's have large buy/sell spreads, meaning if you buy and the market goes up, you probably still have not made money. This spread on physical PM is MUCH larger than for stocks or bonds, so it is also a drag on performance.[/QUOTE]