Gold, Silver, and Geopolitics: A Look Ahead for 2026
After price gains of 65% for gold and 144% for silver in 2025, gold and silver prices could rise further in 2026 due to geopolitical instability driving safe haven demand Potential conflicts...
Precious Metals
With gold and silver prices hitting record highs recently, precious metals have been in the news with increasing frequency. More and more Americans are buying gold and silver, or looking to buy gold and silver, as fear and uncertainty are spurring safe haven buying.
But did you know just how many Americans are buying gold?
A recent survey found that nearly 40% of Americans had bought gold or silver within the last year. And over 90% of those buyers are at least as likely or more likely to buy more gold and silver in the coming year.
Why are so many Americans so bullish about gold and silver? And what causes people to buy more gold and silver?
Here are three popular reasons many people buy gold and silver.
When times get tough, people look to what they know and trust. And for centuries, gold and silver have served as trusted safe haven assets.
Gold and silver offer stability as tangible physical assets that you can buy and hold yourself. Their track record of good performance during times of economic downturns, currency devaluation, and high inflation has helped enhance their reputation as safe havens.
Gold and silver markets are also highly liquid and well traded, with precious metals being bought and sold around the globe nearly 24/7. That offers precious metals buyers and sellers the ability to buy and sell precious metals with ease, while also offering price transparency through widely quoted gold and silver benchmark prices.
But at heart it is the ability to produce returns during times of market weakness that solidify the status of gold and silver as safe haven assets. Because of their low correlation with stock markets , gold and silver are considered countercyclical assets that can help diversify your portfolio and help you mitigate losses elsewhere in your portfolio through their potential gains.
As Warren Buffett famously said, the first rule of investing is not to lose money. And the second rule is to remember the first rule.
Now, that’s easier said than done, of course, especially during times of economic turmoil and uncertainty.
Millions of Americans today are worried about their financial well-being, and with good reason. Persistent inflation and a weakening job market are helping drive fears of an economic downturn.
Many people remember the 2008 financial crisis and the pain that it brought. With markets falling by more than 50%, trillions of dollars of wealth were wiped away in months.
But there were some bright spots during the crisis and its aftermath: gold and silver.
Gold prices actually rose by nearly 25% during the period that stock markets fell over 50%. And in the aftermath of the crisis the gold price nearly tripled, rising almost 270% from its 2008 lows to its 2011 all-time high.
Silver fared even better, with silver prices rising over 500% from 2008 to 2011. Those price performances highlighted the ability of gold and silver prices to perform well even during periods of economic uncertainty and turmoil.
Anyone who had had the foresight to buy gold and silver before the crisis, or even in the middle of the crisis in late 2008, could have seen their gold and silver holdings make massive gains. If you had added gold and silver to your portfolio, you could have seen those gains mitigate losses elsewhere in your portfolio.
Gold and silver both have a reputation for being stable stores of value and hedges against inflation. During the 1970s, stagflation, for instance, both gold and silver prices saw annualized returns of over 30% per year over the course of the decade.
In fact, since 1971 the US dollar has lost 88% of its purchasing power, while the silver price has increased by nearly 6,000% and the gold price has increased by over 12,000%. Compare that to stock indices like the S&P 500 (up 7,600%) or the Dow Jones Industrial Average (up 5,500%), and you can see why gold and silver are trusted as stable sources of value.
Their ability to grow in value against the dollar and to maintain their value against other assets makes them valuable inflation hedges and stores of value.
Of course, looking at this recent survey, the flip side is that over 60% of Americans didn’t buy gold or silver. With the gold price having risen 65% and the silver price 144% in 2025, those people really missed out.
Are you one of the 40% who bought gold and silver and watched as those two precious metals made enormous gains? Or are you one of the 60% who missed out and are now watching on the sidelines?
If you haven’t bought gold and silver already, what are you waiting for?
Are you not interested in gold and silver? If not, why not?
With gains of 65% and 144% last year, gold and silver saw tremendous growth. And with their history of 30% annualized growth for an entire decade during the 1970s, having a few more years of phenomenal growth ahead of them wouldn’t be unprecedented. Wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that?
Are you waiting for gold and silver prices to come down before you buy? With both gold and silver at all time highs and showing no signs of slowing down, you might have to wait a while before that happens.
Are you unsure of where to buy gold and silver? Then give Goldco a call today.
We have helped thousands of Americans buy gold and silver, whether it’s through direct purchases of gold and silver coins or bars delivered straight to your door, or through gold IRA and silver IRA rollovers.
We work directly with mints around the world to source the highest quality IRA-eligible gold and silver coins for our customers, and our stellar customer service has netted us not only over 8,000+ 5-star reviews, but also a reputation as one of the best gold and silver companies in the country.
If you’re watching gold and silver prices climb and thinking you’re too late, you’re not. Call Goldco today to learn more about why 40% of Americans put their trust in gold and silver.