If you work with me personally, you are receiving this on Sunday, a one-day first look before the wider readership sees it. It is only a small head start, but the aim is simple: to stay ahead of the curve wherever we can and with facts we have.
This may be the most important piece of work I have ever shared with you. It takes roughly four minutes to read. The accompanying image may hold your attention for considerably longer...
This is what everybody needs to see, so here goes.
Some businesses and individuals may have little incentive to place this comparison in front of you. But we do not need a conspiracy theory. The evidence is public, the sources are open to everybody, The evidence is public, the sources are available to everyone, and the numbers speak for themselves.
My purpose is to help as many people as possible build meaningful wealth. Just as importantly, I want to help you understand how to protect what has already been built, to improve the chance that what you put in at A still has real value when you reach Z.
No promises. No guarantees. Just evidence, history and a serious conversation about risk. The writing is so clear on the wall.
From 1975 to 2025, UK consumer prices rose by 676.7%. That means £1 kept as zero-interest cash lost 87.1% of its purchasing power. In the United States, the dollar lost 83.3%.
The numbers in the account did not disappear. What they could buy did.
Over the same 50 years, gold’s annual-average price rose by approximately 3,502% in pounds and 2,039% in dollars.
Imagine, £10,000 kept as zero-interest cash would still display £10,000, but in 2025 it would buy only what about £1,288 bought in 1975. The same £10,000 used to buy gold at 1975’s average price would be worth about £360,172 at 2025’s average, roughly £46,372 in 1975 purchasing power.
That is the difference between a balance and buying power.
This is not a claim that every savings account, ISA, bond or share loses money (most do, when you focus on the facts). ISAs did not exist until 1999; interest rates, dividends, fees and tax all matter. Some investments beat inflation and some do not (again, not many, look at the facts). The only honest test is the real return: what remains after inflation (very little, again, look at the facts).
When money is created “like drunken sailors”, as I have put it before after learning this view a while a go, from, Matthew Jones, the risk is that each existing pound buys less. Money creation is not the only cause of inflation, but reckless expansion can intensify the pressure. The chart shows the cumulative result: cash that earns nothing becomes less powerful over time.
Gold is different. It has been used as money and as a store of value for thousands of years. It has survived changes of government, currencies, wars, financial crises, inflation and geopolitical upheaval. Gold appears throughout the history books not because it rises every day, it does not, but because physical gold is a tangible asset with no issuer and no counterparty promise some would say no risk...
That history is not a guarantee of future performance. Gold can fall sharply, remain below previous peaks for years, and incur dealing, custody and storage costs. Every investment carries risk, and gold is not a zero-risk investment, but it feels more like a savings vehicle than an investment. History backs that point up, And Physical ownership can mitigate certain risks; it cannot eliminate all of them.
So ask the obvious question: why are central banks buying so much physical gold?
We should be precise. Central banks are not retail investors, so they do not open ISAs. Official reserves also include foreign currencies, deposits, securities, IMF reserve positions and Special Drawing Rights. But their choices reveal what matters when national reserves must remain liquid, diversified and resilient and the world feels uncertain.
In the World Gold Council’s 2025 survey of 73 central banks, 95% of respondents expected global official gold reserves to increase over the following year, while 43% expected their own holdings to rise. They cited performance during crises, diversification, inflation hedging and gold’s role as a store of value.
Do they know something we do not?
Perhaps the more powerful answer is that they are acting on something we can all see. Gold is not a secret. Its history is not hidden. The data is open. You simply have to open the book, study what has happened before and decide what lessons apply to your own wealth.
Read this once. Open the chart. Give it 24 hours.
Then let us have the right conversation, not “What can anybody guarantee me?”, because nobody can honestly guarantee an investment outcome. The question is: How much, if any, of the wealth you have worked to create should be held in physical gold?
Not through fear. Not through blind faith. Through evidence, proportion and a clear understanding of the risks.
The question is not whether your balance rises.
It is whether your purchasing power survives.
Data note: calendar-year averages for 1975 and 2025. Cash assumes 0% interest. Gold excludes dealing premiums, fees, storage and tax. Gold is volatile, and past performance is not a guarantee of future results. This material is educational and does not constitute personal financial advice; tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change.
Sources: Bank of England inflation calculator; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics annual CPI; World Bank commodity price data; Federal Reserve GBP/USD exchange-rate series; World Gold Council 2025 gold demand; World Gold Council 2025 central-bank survey; IMF guide to official reserve assets; HMRC ISA history.