Check this out:

Source: investing.com app

The number in white was the price in $/oz. as of Jan 18th, this year. Now look at where it was prior to 1979 & in the very early 2000's. Interesting, isn't it?

Precious metals are like "blue chip" stocks: their worth goes up & down on any given day or week or month, but in the long run they always gain in value. It has ever been so, long before the United States (or most modern nations!) existed.

Don't put all your money in gold, of course. Or in silver or any other metal. Precious metals are an asset to help with diversification, part of a well-rounded nest egg. A lot of millennials, zoomers & Alpha kids like crypto, which is fine if you know what you're doing. But don't count out "tradfi" assets like stocks...or precious metals. Gold & silver are safe havens in economic downturns. They've served that purpose ever since the advent of modern economies. Precious metals are also a hedge against inflation...always a concern with nation-based fiat currencies. Gold & silver (& copper) were the first real currencies; for much of human history they were the only currencies. They can still function as such if our modern networked infrastructure ever fails temporarily or permanently...an unlikely event but not an impossible one.

Of course technology has changed the game, even as markets & money act like they always have. Now there's platinum, palladium & more exotic metals out there. These days you don't have to hold metal itself if space &/or security are an issue; gold-backed ETFs exist & function in every major market in the West. You can also buy & sell shares of physical gold inside vaults in secure locations...they function like a stock, but they represent ownership of a percentage of a gold ingot instead of in a publicly held corporation. Exchanges for those are currently limited but, if you like trading, gold shares are an option.

Full disclosure: I am not a certified financial advisor; however, I've been an investor for over two decades now & actively manage some of my own assets. I check market activity on the daily & sometimes research investment-related/financial subjects. Recently I've started studying more esoteric topics such as Elliott Wave theory.