Photo by Dmitry Demidko on UnsplashAs we launch into 2025, perhaps you should resolve to get some gold and silver!If you had made that resolution last year, you’d probably be pretty pleased with yourself – assuming you followed through and kept your self-pronounced commitment.If you bought gold on January 1, 2024, you paid around $2,074 per ounce. At today’s price, you gained about 26 percent over the year.And if you bought silver at $23.99, you earned a 21.3 percent return.Not too shabby. In fact, gold and silver will likely rank among the best-performing assets of 2024. Now, there’s no guarantee you’ll see the same results in 2025. However, it seems likely this New Year’s Eve is the “end of the beginning” for gold and silver, to steal a phrase from our good friend Brien Lundin. The underlying fundamentals that drove precious metals higher in 2024 remain in place as we dive into 2025. Price inflation is still sticky, nevertheless, the Federal Reserve seems intent on lowering interest rates. De-dollarization is still in play, as the world is wary of America’s weaponization of the dollar. That means we will likely see more central bank gold buying in the months ahead. There is plenty of U.S. government fiscal mismanagement on the horizon. Higher interest rates continue to burden Americans loaded up with debt. And on and on it goes.
Promises Were Made to Be Broken
But of course, if you resolve to get gold and silver this year, you have to follow through. And that’s easier said than done.Here’s the ugly truth: if you make resolutions for 2025, odds are you will abandon them within the next several days — two weeks, tops.So, maybe you should just act now and skip the formality of making promises you aren’t going to keep.Don’t misunderstand; I’m not questioning your intentions — just your willpower. And I don’t mean to offend. I’m just stating the facts — playing the odds if you will.On average, people break their New Year resolution by January 12. So, you have less than two weeks to go before you can put this all in the past.I didn’t make this up. I’m basing all of this on research conducted by Strava, a social media network for athletes. According to a
New York Post story, the company analyzed more than 31.5 million online global activities to come up with that date. I don’t have any idea how they did that, but it sounds sciency, and we’ve all been told we must “trust the science.” Then there’s this: according to a study conducted by the University of Scranton, just 8 percent of people achieve their New Year’s goals — ever. In other words, more than 90 percent fail. That’s why I feel pretty safe playing the odds. Unless you’re way out of the mainstream, your resolutions are already toast.So, why set yourself up for failure?
But You Can Always Take Action Now!
As for me, I’ve solved the problem of broken New Year’s resolutions. I just don’t make them at all.I will admit, that’s probably not the best strategy for personal growth. Then again, it minimizes disappointment. Life is better without disappointment, right? So, maybe this is a personal growth plan. All that said, I do believe in challenging myself and striving for personal growth. I just don’t think making a big pronouncement on Dec. 31 is the best strategy.I’m more of a “take action” kind of guy.Psychologists have actually studied resolutions, and they say that most people get too caught up in the moment and set expectations too high. That drives them to commit to things they will never be able to realistically achieve.To put it simply, their dreams aren’t really actionable. I’ll give you an example.You might say something like, “I’m never going to eat donuts again.” Or perhaps you’ll promise yourself, “I’m going to work out every single day!”That’s not going to happen.You’re not going to do it.You know it.I know it.The clerk at Dunkin’ Donuts knows it.Psychology being what it is, most people will just toss in the towel after the first little setback. I bet you’ve experienced this, yourself. You slip up, forget you made a resolution, and take a bite of a donut at the office and the next morning, you’re in the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through. (Yes. Donuts are a thing for me.)And you’re going to hurt so bad the day after you go to the gym for the first time, you’ll never want to go back. When you miss day two, you’ll probably feel guilty and just throw in the towel.But don’t lose hope.You can still make your life measurably better in 2025. You can set some reasonable goals, take action from day one, and achieve them.The key, experts say, is incremental lifestyle changes. Instead of giving up donuts forever, maybe you could just cut back to one donut a week. Instead of promising to work out every single day, set a reasonable workout goal.Nutritionist Dr. Carly Moores said another problem is that people try to make too many changes at once. You know that guy – he goes gangbusters on Jan. 2. He fasts, and then he goes to the gym and works out for three hours. The next day, he hurts so bad he can barely get out of bed. Plus, he’s starving to death. To compensate for his suffering, he heads to Waffle House and never graces the inside of the gym again.Moores advises making reasonable, incremental changes.“Start with small changes and continue to build on these or try to tackle one change at a time,” Moores said. “Try to set yourself goals, reflect on your progress towards these, acknowledge that changes can be hard, and results won’t happen overnight … or even in the first two weeks of the new year.”Here’s the takeaway – changing your life is a process – not a pronouncement.Using the calendar flip at the beginning of the new year as an opportunity to reflect, evaluate, and set goals isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes we need to reset. The New Year holiday provides that opportunity.But remember, talk is cheap. You have to take action. As the saying goes, there’s no better time than the present.More By This Author:A Toast To 50 Years Of Legalized Gold Will AI Cause Mass Deflation?Why Not Tax Hikes To Fix The Budget?
