Written by Bojan Pravica, founder of Elementum
When I look at gold today at 3,330 dollars per ounce, I cannot help but think: how many stories, crises, and human destinies I have witnessed alongside it. My journey with gold began more than 30 years ago. Back in 1999, gold could still be bought for 260 dollars per ounce. Today, the price is nearly thirteen times higher. And in these three decades, I have realized something simple: the world changes, new technologies come and go, but gold remains shining. What matters is knowing why it is essential to own gold, when it is wise to buy it, where you can get it at a good price, and how you can get more gold for your money. On all these key questions, ordinary people – and in my experience, even people from the financial world – do not have the right answers.
Bojan Pravica: Memories of Turning Points
In the 1990s, when everyone was talking about technological progress, I attended a conference in Zurich where an analyst confidently predicted that gold had no future. At that time, the price was barely 300 dollars. I remember saying to myself: “History will prove him wrong.” And indeed, when the internet bubble burst, people once again sought safety – and gold slowly began to rise.
In the 1990s, when everyone was talking about technological progress, I listened at a conference in Zurich to an analyst who confidently predicted that gold had no future. At that time, the price was barely 300 dollars. I remember saying to myself: “History will contradict him.” And indeed, when the internet bubble burst, people once again sought safety – and gold slowly began to rise.
A few years later, during the Greek debt crisis, a gentleman from Athens told me that his pension had disappeared – but his gold coins had saved him. That was the moment I fully realized that gold is not just an investment – it is a bridge between storms and the future.
Then came the 2020 pandemic. The world came to a standstill, the stock markets trembled, but gold soared above 2,000 dollars. At that time, I said to my colleagues:
“When people cannot go out into the streets, they go into gold.”
And today, in August 2025, we once again face uncertainty. The U.S. Fed is torn between inflation and recession. Powell is preparing a speech in Jackson Hole that might tip the scales. But I know one thing: the Fed can talk, yet central banks are buying gold like never before. That is the best signal for the future.
Gold in Numbers: A 30-Year Comparison
- Year 1995: 1 ounce of gold = 385 USD.
- Year 2005: 1 ounce of gold = 430 USD.
- Year 2015: 1 ounce of gold = 1,160 USD.
- Year 2025: 1 ounce of gold = 3,330 USD.
If you had bought gold for 10,000 USD in 1995, today you would have wealth worth more than 86,000 USD. If you had left the same amount in a bank account, inflation would have reduced it to merely half of its purchasing power. And that’s talking about official inflation. As for the unofficial, real-life inflation, it’s better not to, because there would be nothing left to calculate.
Had you “safely invested” the money back then in a new luxury car, it would today be sitting in a junkyard – while gold would still be shining.
When I tell people this, they smile because it sounds logical – but in reality, it isn’t funny that 99% of people would rather buy a shiny car that everyone can see than shiny gold that safeguards their security. Gold does not expire, gold does not rust, gold does not disappear. Money does.
Whatever comes: gold is always the right answer
Recently, ECB President Christine Lagarde said: “Inflation is easing, but it remains dangerously high.”
Fed Governor Kugler, however, warned: “We must not rush into lowering interest rates.”
The Chairman of the FED, Jerome Powell, whom U.S. President Trump pushes around like an apprentice, knows he has run into a dead end.
If he doesn’t lower interest rates, he suffocates the economy. If he lowers them, he paves the way for inflation. So, does he remain silent and wait for his term to end?
All these dilemmas of central bankers, who mint electronic money out of thin air, play right into the hands of gold.
Why? Because central banks know that the only thing they truly hold of value is gold. There is much noise about stocks.
Yet not a single central bank has ever bought even one stock. On the other hand, silence screams the truth: central banks are quietly buying gold.
China alone has increased its reserves by more than 100 tons in the past twelve months.
If he doesn’t lower interest rates, he suffocates the economy. If he lowers them, he paves the way for inflation. So, does he remain silent and wait for his term to end?
All these dilemmas of central bankers, who mint electronic money out of thin air, play right into the hands of gold.
Why? Because central banks know that the only thing they truly hold of value is gold. There is much noise about stocks.
Yet not a single central bank has ever bought even one stock. On the other hand, silence screams the truth: central banks are quietly buying gold.
China alone has increased its reserves by more than 100 tons in the past twelve months.
Silver: the younger brother with character
Silver today stands below 40 dollars. It reminds me of 2011, when it then exploded to 50 dollars within just a few months.
At that time, I jokingly told a client: “If gold brings peaceful sleep, silver brings adrenaline dreams.” And I still believe that today.
At that time, I jokingly told a client: “If gold brings peaceful sleep, silver brings adrenaline dreams.” And I still believe that today.
If I could turn back time
In three decades, I have seen it all: bubbles, crises, wars, pandemics. Yet gold has always become more and more valuable.
If I had to give young people one piece of advice today, I would tell them: gold is truth, money is a promise.
In the meantime, Bitcoin appeared. True, the first miners became rich. But it is now 2025.
Those who buy at the top of the pyramid realize the profits of others while entrusting their money to the promises of the crypto industry. And promises, as we know, are often broken.
So, when I am asked whether today is the right time for gold, I answer:
If I had to give young people one piece of advice today, I would tell them: gold is truth, money is a promise.
In the meantime, Bitcoin appeared. True, the first miners became rich. But it is now 2025.
Those who buy at the top of the pyramid realize the profits of others while entrusting their money to the promises of the crypto industry. And promises, as we know, are often broken.
So, when I am asked whether today is the right time for gold, I answer:
“The best time was yesterday, but the right time is today.”
Bojan Pravica Elementum