Silver Rises Over 120% YTD 
Published: 08-20-2026, 09:41 am
Key Takeaways
- Rick Rule, founder of Rule Investment Media, treats physical gold as savings, not a trade. He buys it with new income almost regardless of price.
- Specifically, Rule says he is a buyer at $4,400, at $4,600, and at $4,700. His reasoning centers on the dollar’s purchasing power, not gold’s daily quote.
- He sold roughly 80% of his physical silver, at an average price of about $75. His rule is simple: sell parabolic charts once the metal stops being hated.
- Rule splits his portfolio into three buckets. Savings holds physical gold. Investments holds top-tier miners. Speculation holds junior miners and silver.
- He separates volatility from risk. For a skilled investor, volatility is opportunity. For an unskilled one, a bad reaction to volatility becomes the real risk.
Is saving in gold a good idea? For Rick Rule, founder of Rule Investment Media and a fifty-year veteran of the natural resource business, the answer has nothing to do with today’s price. Instead, he buys gold with part of every dollar that comes in, almost irrespective of price, because he treats it as savings rather than a trade.
That distinction sounds small. However, in practice, it changes almost everything about how an investor should think about metals.
In a recent conversation with GoldSilver’s Maggie Lake, Rule laid out his full framework for gold, silver, and mining equities. He explained why he sold roughly 80% of his physical silver at an average price near $75. He also described the three-bucket structure he has used since the 1970s. And he offered a warning to anyone hoping for a fast move higher in gold: be careful what you wish for.
Why Does Rick Rule Buy Gold No Matter the Price?
Rule’s answer is direct. “If gold’s at 4,400, I’m a buyer. If it’s at 4,600, I’m a buyer. If it’s 4,700, I’m a buyer,” he said. He is not predicting a bottom. Nor is he timing a swing. Instead, he is funding a savings habit with new income, similar to how another investor might fund a retirement account on a schedule.
His reasoning rests on the dollar, not the metal. In other words, the price today matters less to him than where the currency is headed. Specifically, Rule expects the U.S. dollar to lose roughly 75% of its purchasing power over the next decade. If that forecast holds, he expects gold’s nominal price to rise and reflect it. As a result, today’s entry price matters less to him than the dollar’s long-term direction.
That said, Rule frames this as his own view, not a certainty. “I can’t give you an exact gold quote because I don’t have one,” he said. “But I suspect over ten years it’ll be markedly higher.” Because he plans to keep buying and not selling for a long stretch, lower prices now genuinely serve him better than a fast spike higher.
Rule also draws a sharp line between his own goal and what many GoldSilver readers want. Some investors want higher prices soon because they already hold metal and want to see its value climb. In response, Rule points to what actually drives gold higher. “The set of circumstances that takes the gold price higher is invariably painful to the rest of your portfolio,” he said. He points to bond and equity losses in the 1970s as the precedent.
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What Is the Difference Between Saving in Gold and Speculating in It?
For Rule, gold and silver are not the same kind of asset, even though both are precious metals. Gold is what he calls a savings asset. Silver, in his own portfolio, is a speculation.
“To me, gold isn’t a speculative asset class; it’s a savings asset class,” Rule said. In contrast, he reserves the “casino chip” label for traders chasing short-term gains rather than long-term protection.
Silver gets different treatment. Rule bought it because it was hated. Before he bought, he set a personal rule: once silver stopped being hated, he would sell it. That is exactly what happened. Consequently, he sold roughly 80% of his physical silver holdings, at an average price of about $75, a figure he has repeated across multiple public interviews this year. He does not regret missing the additional upside, either. “I didn’t begrudge a dime of what I missed,” he said. “That’s not what I do.”
The mechanism behind that decision is simple and repeatable. Specifically, Rule sells parabolic up-charts as a rule of thumb, unless a specific piece of fresh news justifies the move. In his framework, a one-way vertical chart with no new catalyst is a signal to reduce exposure, not chase it further.
Is Saving in Gold a Good Idea If You Might Need Liquidity?
Rule’s answer is yes, with one caveat: savings does not mean untouchable. In 2009, following the 2008 financial collapse, he sold part of his physical gold to buy equities he considered absurdly underpriced. He used his savings as liquidity precisely because other assets had become cheap enough to justify the trade.
That flexibility, he argues, is part of what makes gold useful as savings in the first place. After all, gold is not a promise from a government or a company. Instead, it is payment in and of itself. As a result, an owner can convert it into other opportunities without needing anyone else’s permission.
Why Is Silver More Volatile Than Gold?
Rule has watched one pattern repeat across five decades. Specifically, when momentum in gold pulls generalist investors into the precious metals sector, leadership eventually shifts from gold to silver. He has seen this happen four times in his life, most recently in late 2025.
Notably, Rule is candid about the limits of his own explanation. “I’ve been trying to figure out why it happens for 50 years, and I actually don’t know,” he said. His best guesses point to silver’s reputation for sharper moves in both directions, plus its lower price per ounce, which makes it accessible to a wider range of momentum buyers.
However, Rule is certain about one distinction: volatility and risk are not the same thing. “Volatility and risk are very different phenomena,” he said. For a skilled investor, volatility represents opportunity. For an unskilled investor, an emotional reaction to volatility becomes the real risk. He compares allocating to silver to “entering into a financial rodeo,” one that rewards discipline and punishes overreaction.
How Does Rick Rule Structure His Precious Metals Portfolio?
Rule organizes his holdings into three distinct buckets. Each one carries its own purpose and its own risk profile.
Savings holds his physical gold. This is the portion he does not trade and rarely sells, aside from occasional liquidity moves like the one in 2009.
Investments holds a small number of high-quality mining equities. Notably, Rule points out that during the 1970s bull market, the best-quality gold miners delivered roughly twice the return of physical gold. That said, those returns came with wider swings and real operational risk.
Speculation covers silver and junior mining equities. Here, returns can run higher still, but so can the chance of losing everything. For instance, Rule has said in the past that most junior mining companies carry little to no real value. Therefore, success in this bucket depends on the work an investor is willing to put in, not just the risk they are willing to take.
Consequently, this structure matters because it stops an investor from treating every metals holding the same way. A gold allocation meant to preserve purchasing power over a decade calls for a different temperament than a silver position built to catch a short-term move.
What Does This Mean for Gold and Silver Investors Today?
Rule’s framework offers a practical filter for anyone building a metals allocation. Therefore, before adding to a position, first ask which bucket it belongs in. Savings should be sized for a decade-long horizon and funded steadily, regardless of the daily quote. Speculation, in contrast, should be sized for what an investor can genuinely afford to lose. It also demands the discipline to sell into strength rather than chase it.
That distinction matters even more when prices swing hard in both directions. For example, Rule’s own choice to sell most of his silver once it stopped being hated, rather than trying to catch the very top, shows that a rule followed consistently can beat perfect timing. Similarly, the reader who separates a savings allocation from a speculative one already has an edge over most newcomers to the space.
Ultimately, owning physical metal outside the financial system, on your own terms, is exactly the kind of decision this framework is built to support.
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People Also Ask
For investors focused on protecting purchasing power over many years, saving in gold can make sense. Specifically, gold has no counterparty, and no central bank can devalue it by decision. That said, Rick Rule buys gold with new income almost regardless of price because he treats it as insurance against currency debasement, not a short-term trade.
Silver tends to move further than gold in both directions. It has a smaller market, a lower price per ounce, and a reputation that draws short-term speculators once a rally begins. Notably, Rick Rule has observed this pattern in four separate cycles over fifty years, most recently in late 2025.
Investors widely treat gold as a long-term savings and monetary-protection asset. In contrast, silver behaves more like a speculative, higher-volatility trade tied to both investment demand and industrial use. Rick Rule holds gold as savings, while he treats silver as a separate speculative position with its own entry and exit rules.
The decision depends on time horizon and temperament. A gold allocation meant to preserve purchasing power over a decade calls for patience and steady buying. Meanwhile, a silver or mining-equity position meant to capture shorter-term moves calls for a firm rule about when to take profits.
This is only part of the conversation. Watch the full interview to hear Rick Rule’s take on the 1975 parallel he watched personally, why he thinks the Fed will eventually lose its nerve on rates, and the Eric Sprott story that explains what real conviction looks like after an 85% drawdown.
Watch the full interview here.
SOURCES
1. Rule Investment Media – Rick Rule, Founder and CEO
2. GoldSilver – Maggie Lake interview with Rick Rule
3. GoldSilver – Live Gold and Silver Price Charts
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
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