Cash vs. Assets in 2024: What $10,000 Actually Earned (and My 2025 Plan)

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Every Friday I do a show I call "The Dollar Is Dead," and this episode is the year-end wrap-up. I put a full year of numbers into one spreadsheet so you can see exactly what happened to money held as cash versus money held as assets in 2024.

The point isn't hype. It's that how you save matters as much as how much you save — and if you're carrying debt, that changes the order you do things in.

What you'll learn

• What $100 in cash from 100 years ago is worth in purchasing power today
• The 2024 returns on savings accounts, 3-month CDs and 3-month Treasuries
• The 2024 returns on gold, silver, Bitcoin, Ethereum, the Dow 30 and the S&P 500
• The side-by-side result on $10,000 held as cash vs. spread across assets
• Why I still tell you to keep an emergency fund in cash anyway

Why I say the dollar is dead

I open with a 100-year purchasing power chart. If you had saved $100 in cash back then, you'd have roughly $3 of purchasing power today. That's not a market crash — that's inflation grinding away quietly. The way I describe it: inflation is money taken from you without anybody having to vote on it. The same number of dollars sits in your account, but they buy less. That's why "just save money" hasn't worked the way it used to.

The cash side of the spreadsheet

I treat three things as cash equivalents: a savings account, a rolling 3-month CD, and a rolling 3-month Treasury. Over 2024 those came in at 0.42%, 1.5% and 4.58%. Split evenly, that averages 2.17%. Put $10,000 in and you finished the year with about $217 in profit — roughly $10,217. Compare that to the inflation we lived through, including stretches of 8% to 10%, and you can see why people who are living paycheck to paycheck feel like they're falling behind. They are.

The non-cash side

Then I show the six non-cash rows: gold, silver, Bitcoin, Ethereum, the Dow Jones 30 and the S&P 500. For 2024, gold was up about 28%, silver about 25%, Bitcoin about 115%, Ethereum about 46%, the Dow about 12% and the S&P 500 about 23%. Spread evenly across all six, the average was 41.95%. That same $10,000 would have grown by about $4,195, ending around $14,195.

So: about $10,217 versus about $14,195. That's the whole message of the year in one line. And this isn't a rich-person-only move. You don't have to buy bullion or figure out crypto wallets. Spot ETFs for gold, silver, Bitcoin and Ethereum trade in a regular brokerage account — my own mother buys them. Index funds cover the Dow 30 and the S&P 500 so you don't have to pick stocks, and over long periods the S&P 500 has been hard for professional money managers to beat. You can buy fractions, so $10 or $100 at a time works.

The part people skip

I have to say it every time: I'm not a financial advisor or planner, and this is informational only. Things go up and things also go down. All six of those charts went up and to the right last year, but they had dips along the way, and rough economic times can come. That's exactly why I believe you need an emergency fund in cash — three months, six months, whatever fits your expenses. The worst position is being forced to sell assets while markets are down just to pay a bill. A cash buffer means the money you invest is money you don't need right away.

And underneath all of it, the debt comes first. Most of what I publish is about paying off cars, credit cards and mortgages, because a 20%-plus interest rate beats any of these returns for reliability. Run your own numbers in the credit card payoff calculator and the investment interest calculator and compare. Then educate yourself, because the banks don't care about you and the government doesn't care about you — it's up to you.

Key steps

1. Build a cash emergency fund first, sized to your real monthly expenses.
2. Attack high-interest debt next — see pay off debt or invest first for the math.
3. Decide what percentage of your long-term savings you're comfortable holding as assets instead of dollars.
4. Use simple vehicles: spot ETFs and index funds, bought in fractions if needed.
5. Spread it out rather than betting on one thing, and keep contributing monthly.
6. Track your progress with the Debt-Freedom Tracker.

FAQ

Should I invest instead of paying off my credit cards?

No. Credit card rates are usually far higher and far more certain than any investment return. Clear the high-interest debt, keep your emergency fund, then put new savings to work. Investing while in debt walks through the order.

Do I need to buy actual gold or crypto to do this?

Not necessarily. Spot ETFs for gold, silver, Bitcoin and Ethereum can be bought in a normal brokerage account, and index funds cover the Dow 30 and S&P 500. You can buy fractional shares, so small amounts work.

What if markets drop right after I start?

They can, and they do. That's the reason for the cash emergency fund — so you're never forced to sell at a low point to cover bills. See layoffs, inflation and your debt for how I'd prepare.