Ever wonder which is the smartest way to save your surplus dollars? Owning stocks, or gold and silver? The following, is straight from the internet, and not any made-up figures. Due to the erratic behavior of Dow-Jones stocks, which are 30 of the most popular and common stock trades, I am giving the yearly dividends, percentage wise, for each stock, based on their selling price when I wrote this.
The late Richard Russell wrote his famous “Dow Theory Letter,” for 57 years. It has always been thought of as the ‘Bible’ of the stock market. In one 1980 issue, he recommended Colorado Gold as the best source of honest dealings in metals. I had an interesting conversation with him a couple of times. A brilliant guy! Russell said that a good stock should have a P.E. ratio of not more than ten to twelve. “P.E.,” is the ratio between the price of a stock and its earnings, but not its dividends. As I write this, the P.E. ratio of Dow stocks is 23.6, meaning that stocks are overpriced.
In the current year of 2026, the average yearly, taxable dividends of the 30 Dow stocks, is 2.30% of their selling price. Here a few of the dividends for some stocks on the Dow. Amazon and Boeing pay no dividends. Microsoft pays .088% per share per year. Nvidia pays .023%, Caterpillar pays .079%, as does Visa. Walmart pays .075%, and Apple .038%. Ford pays .060%, American Express pays .097%, and General Motors pays .072 %. The previous eleven, all pay far less than one per cent of their share selling price, per year, in dividends. What brings it up to 2.30%, probably are the lesser known shares on the Dow, which pay more and may be of a greater risk. Union Pacific, with a share price of $292.25 pays $5.68 per share, per year in dividends, which is 2%. Since the average taxable dividend for the Dow is 2.30% per share per year, even with no taxes, owning stocks, is no protection against inflation.
Next, I quote the average per year increase in dollar prices, over the last 75 years, of gold and silver. Over the last 75 years, the tax free dollar price per ounce of gold, has gone up 6.3% per year, and the average price of silver, has gone up 5.8% per year. In plain terms, stocks are over-priced, and they pay less than the inflation rate of 3.5% in government figures, if you believe government figures, with gas prices in my small town of $4.37 per gallon.
“Politics is the only profession where you can lie, cheat and steal and still be respected.”Mark Twain.
Or as Will Rogers observed in relationship to government being honest and truthful:“I don’t make jokes, I just report facts.”
Most today, believe the inflation rate is more than twice what is said by government, but falsely, they do believe that inflation is caused by the interest rate, rather than the actual truth. That fiction is believed, because of constant media linking inflation to the interest rate, as government says it endlessly. The dictionary says:“Inflation, is caused by an increase in the currency supply,” So the Federal Reserve dollar presses continue to roll, to pay for government costs for welfare, war, corruption, and utter waste, as is typical of all governments everywhere, which adds to the currency supplies. Inflating currency supplies, have destroyed all governments and nations throughout history, and ours has gone from ”White Tower” nickel hamburgers, Cokes and Hershey bars, to you know what now. I do remember White Tower nickel hamburgers! They were tiny, but delicious!
That is not all, by any means. You have to buy stock through a stock broker, who makes his living by managing your entire net worth, for probably 1% a year and maybe a $50 per stock trade, which you cannot do yourself, unless you are licensed. You must give your Social Security number to buy any stock, and pay taxes on your profits, if there are any. If your stocks are to be placed in an ERA, can you leave your ERA to your kids, tax free? Sorry, the entire stock market ‘ins’ and ‘outs,’ escapes me, and if I have made an error, please excuse it.
Gold has gone up 6.3% tax free per year over the last 75 years, and silver has gone up 5.8% tax free, every year for the last 75 years. Had had you died, your kids would have the gold and silver left to them, tax free. No one knows you have it, because we don’t care less what your Social Security numbers are. You would have paid us 1% of our wholesale price including delivery, when you bought them, and that would be it.They just sit there, their prices going up as the dollars go down!
There is just something really nice and comforting, when you hold beautiful, physical gold and silver in your hands or in your safe. They’re not dependent on bureaucracy, politics, or the inflation rate, either actual or lied about by government. As the dollar shrinks and buys ever less, your gold and silver prices automatically go up as the dollar decays, and it is automatic, without you doing anything. We have been here for 48 years, and have always had a Better Business Bureau rating of A+, and never had a single complaint.
-Don Stott don@coloradogold.com