On Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune had an article about how gold and silver prices have declined this year.
The article included a graph showing that, despite the recent declines, the SPDR Gold Trust ETF has returned +94.73% from Jan 1, 2007 through this past Tuesday. During this same period, the iShares Silver Trust ETF returned +48.47%, and the S&P 500 index +13.80%.
My account, which does not have any precious metals ETFs (only stocks, REITS, a short term bond fund, and cash) and has been managed with my STR (Stock Trading Riches) system, has returned +49.09% during this time period - so I have done well compared to the S&P 500.
This shows the value of good stock picking and rebalancing (buying low, selling high).