In spite of the recent price collapse, gold and silver have delivered strong returns to Swiss investors since the turn of the millennium. An analysis by independent online comparison service moneyland.ch shows that those two precious metals outperformed key stock indexes over the past 25 years and the past five years.
The moneyland.ch analysis compared the performance of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium with that of the total return versions of the S&P 500, DAX, CAC 40, and MSCI World stock indexes. The comparison also accounted for Swiss savings accounts, and the total return version of the SBI AAA-BBB Swiss bond Index.
Past 25 years: Silver brought the highest returns
Silver delivered the best performance over the 25-year investment term, with the price of silver, when converted to Swiss francs, gaining by over 660 percent between the end of 2000 and the end of 2025. Gold took second place, with over 644 percent growth. The S&P 500, one of the leading US stock indexes, comes in a distant third, with over 488 percent growth in Swiss francs.
“In more practical terms, if you had invested 1000 francs each into silver, gold, and the S&P 500 at the close of the year 2000, your investments would have been worth around 7608, 7443, and 5884 francs respectively by the end of 2025,” says moneyland.ch editor Daniel Dreier.
Past 15 years: Stocks lead in the medium-term
The situation was different over the past 15 years, with stocks showing the best performance over the 15-year period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2025. The S&P 500 grew by 781 percent in Swiss francs over that period. The global stock index MSCI World grew by over 337 percent, in Swiss francs, taking second place. Swiss stock market indexes also delivered good performance over that term, with the SPI growing by around 249 percent, and the SMI growing by around 240 percent.
An investment of 1000 francs each in the S&P 500, the MSCI World, and the SPI at the close of the year 2010 would have grown to 8817 francs, 4377 francs, and 3494 francs respectively by the end of 2025. Had you invested the same amount in gold and silver, you would have ended up with a much lower 2313 francs (gold) and 2160 francs (silver).
Past 10 years: US stocks, gold, and silver lead
The US stock market is the only investment included in the analysis that outperformed silver and gold in terms of returns in Swiss francs between the end of 2015 and the end of 2025. The S&P 500 grew by around 354 percent between 2016 and 2025. Silver takes second place, with around 245 percent. Gold comes in third for this term, with around 189 percent.
Had you invested 1000 francs each in the S&P 500, silver, and gold at the end of 2015 and let it sit until the end of 2025, you would have ended up with around 4546 francs (S&P 500), 3453 francs (silver), and 2895 francs (gold).
Past 5 years: Silver delivered the highest returns in the short term
Silver also took first place for the five-year term between the end of 2020 and the end of 2025, with a price gain of more than 170 percent. It is followed by the S&P 500, which gained over 153 percent during the same period. Gold, which gained by more than 105 percent, comes in third.
Had you invested 1000 francs into each of these investment vehicles at the end of 2020, by the end of 2025 – just 5 years later – your money would have grown to around 2709 francs (silver), 2534 francs (S&P 500), and 2057 francs (gold).
Swiss savings accounts and Swiss bonds brought the lowest returns
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Swiss savings accounts had the poorest average performance in all but one of the analyzed time periods. The average Swiss savings account returned just 8.48 percent in interest for the entire period between the end of the year 2000 and the end of 2025.
The returns are lower for the 15-year term (2.25 percent), the 10-year term (1.48 percent), and the five-year term (1.29 percent).
The five-year term is the only period in which Swiss savings accounts were not the poorest performers. Between the end of 2020 and the end of 2025, the SBI AAA-BBB Swiss bond index grew by just 0.67 percent, compared to the 1.29-percent return from the average Swiss savings account.
“It is important, though, to understand that there are Swiss banks with interest rates that are much higher than the average rate across all banks,” explains Daniel Dreier. “Consumers can optimize their interest earnings by using the savings accounts with the highest interest rates. You can compare current interest rates using the interactive savings account comparison on moneyland.ch.”
Savings accounts differ from other investment vehicles in that the nominal value of your assets does not fluctuate over time. That is beneficial when stability and liquidity are required, such as for holding an emergency fund or as an interim solution for parking wealth. But because the interest rates are generally low, the real value of your assets, after accounting for inflation, can decrease over time.
Past performance is no indication of future returns
The moneyland.ch analysis only shows how profitable different investment vehicles have been in the past. But it is very important to understand that past performance is never an indicator of future performance. It is not possible to predict how markets will develop in the future.
The specific timeframe used for a comparison also plays a role.
Methodology
moneyland.ch calculated the performance, in Swiss francs, for four different investment terms:
- The past five years (the close of the last trading day in 2020 until the close of the last trading day in 2025).
- The past 10 years (the close of the last trading day in 2015 until the close of the last trading day in 2025).
- The past 15 years (the close of the last trading day in 2010 until the close of the last trading day in 2025).
- The past 25 years (the close of the last trading day in 2000 until the close of the last trading day in 2025).
These bases were used for the calculations:
Stock and bond market indexes: For the stock and bond index performance calculations, moneyland.ch used the total return versions of indexes that account for dividends. moneyland.ch calculated annual performance in the index’s denominating currency based on the closing index rate on the last trading day of each year. moneyland.ch then calculated performance in terms of the index’s denominating currency, based on a baseline of 100 currency units. The values for each year were then converted to Swiss francs from the index’s denominating currency using the closing currency exchange rate on the last trading day of each year. The performance is calculated based on the converted prices in Swiss francs. The SBI AAA-BBB bond index is only included in the five-year, 10-year, and 15-year comparison terms.
Calculations do not account for possible third-party investment costs like brokerage fees, custody fees, asset management fees, or the total expense ratios (TERs) of investment funds.
Precious metals: Performance calculations for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are based on the LBMA closing price in US dollars on the last trading day of each year. The US dollar prices are converted to Swiss francs using the going currency exchange rate on the last trading day of each year. The performance is calculated based on the converted prices in Swiss francs. Calculations do not account for possible third-party costs like storage costs, brokerage fees, custody fees, the total expense ratios (TERs) of investment funds, asset management fees, precious metal account fees, or dealer markups and markdowns on the spot price.
Swiss savings accounts: Calculations are based on the average of all annual interest rates across savings accounts from Swiss banks, as calculated by the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
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