The result in plain numbers
The model buys 0.799361 units of Gold with $1,000 at a reference price of $1,251.00 on 2015-01-01. Multiplying those units by the $4,309.00 reference value on 2025-12-31 produces $3,444.
The modeled change is $2,444, or 244.4%. The path was not smooth: the table and chart retain the source’s year-by-year reference points rather than drawing a constant compound-growth assumption.
Calculation methodology
units purchased = starting amount ÷ purchase reference price
value at each point = units purchased × that period’s reference price
The purchase value is the World Bank Pink Sheet’s January monthly average for 2015. The valuation is its December 2025 monthly average. Monthly averages are anchored to calendar dates for calculation and display, but they are not executable daily closing prices. Intermediate chart points use December monthly averages.
This is a price-only comparison in nominal U.S. dollars. It excludes trading spreads, dealer premiums, custody or storage, management charges, taxes and inflation. It also assumes the full starting amount can buy a fractional quantity.
Annual value path
Each row applies the same modeled quantity to a distinct historical reference price. That makes the page’s result independently reproducible from the source observations.
| Reference period | Gold price | Modeled value | Change from start |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,251.00 | $1,000 | 0% | |
| $1,076.00 | $860 | -14% | |
| $1,157.00 | $925 | -7.5% | |
| $1,264.00 | $1,010 | 1% | |
| $1,250.00 | $999 | -0.1% | |
| $1,479.00 | $1,182 | 18.2% | |
| $1,858.00 | $1,485 | 48.5% | |
| $1,790.00 | $1,431 | 43.1% | |
| $1,798.00 | $1,437 | 43.7% | |
| $2,026.00 | $1,620 | 62% | |
| $2,648.00 | $2,117 | 111.7% | |
| $4,309.00 | $3,444 | 244.4% |
Historical source, license and limits
World Bank Prospects Group: Gold historical data. World Bank Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), adapted by FinanceBase; licensed CC BY 4.0. View the CC BY 4.0 license. The source describes the series as monthly average of daily spot rates with monthly frequency.
Purchase values are January monthly averages anchored to the first day of the month. Annual and valuation values are monthly averages anchored to the last day of their period; they are not trade-date closes. The source can revise historical data. FinanceBase fixes this page’s valuation cutoff at 2025-12-31 and records a build-time verification date rather than presenting the page as a live quote.
Common questions
Gold scenario FAQs
Does this Gold scenario include dividends or income?
No. It uses the historical price series described on this page. It does not add distributions, interest, storage costs, fees, taxes, spreads or inflation.
Could an investor have bought at the exact price shown?
Not necessarily. The source reports monthly average of daily spot rates. It is a reproducible reference observation, not a guarantee that a trade was available at that exact price.
Why do the other investment amounts point to one canonical page?
Changing only the starting dollar amount scales every result by the same factor. FinanceBase keeps those useful comparison pages out of search indexes and identifies the $1,000 version as the primary data page.
Does this historical result predict future returns?
No. It describes one past start date and one fixed valuation date. Future prices and the path between them can be materially different.