Consider this: if you had put a £50 note in your piggy bank 20 years ago the “inflation moths” would have eaten it away year by year. Over the last 20 years, prices have risen 71 per cent on the RPI measure. So each £50 note would be worth £20 less now. Over the same time, the gold price has risen more than threefold. Even allowing for the buy/sell spread and annual costs, gold has certainly beaten inflation over the last 20 years.