The Best Assets That Helped People Grow Their Wealth In 2025

2025 was an eventful year, marked by tariffs, rapid AI advancements, and the first year of President Trump's second term. Even more so for anyone interested in the world of finance and investment. In 2025, no single asset class emerged as a clear must-have, as leadership rotated throughout the year. But taking a wider look at the entire year's picture, it's a lot easier to see what assets brought the most returns to investors and which ones lost people money. The year marked a shift in the investment landscape, with once-popular assets giving way to those that had been largely overlooked. 

The shift is most apparent in the cryptocurrency market. For example, Bitcoin moved from the star player of 2024 (having grown by 121%) to one of the worst assets, losing by 6%, according to Slickcharts. The drastic momentum signalled a more dramatic move of the entire market from digital assets to quieter, timeless ones like metals. In 2025, metals like gold, silver, and copper rose sharply and generated significant returns for investors. For more conventional investments, the stock market delivered as usual, with US stocks like the S&P 500 continuing to deliver steady, even impressive returns. Overseas markets also delivered unexpectedly strong competition.

With so much movement up and down the charts, it's a difficult task to sum up factually what asset classes helped people grow their wealth, as personal finance isn't captured under one public data set. Still, widely followed benchmarks offer a broad view of how different asset classes performed over the full calendar year.

When people think about investing, metals like gold, silver, and copper are not always top of mind. Gold in particular has been a huge part of commerce and trade for ages, as far back as 700 BC, when gold coins were used before the introduction of paper notes. Since that time, in spite of all the economic booms, stock market bubbles, and busts, gold has kept its store of value reputation. 

In 2025, that reputation grew beyond just one of the quiet investments to protect against inflation to a major asset class. According to The Motley Fool, gold rose nearly 64% in 2025, its strongest annual performance since 1979, Reuters reported. In the spotlight, too, for the year were silver and copper. While copper climbed by 40%, silver overshadowed the other two metals with a surge of over 140%. Put into dollar terms, a $1,000 investment in each metal would have ended the year at $1,640 in gold, $2,400 in silver, and $1,400 in copper, before taxes and fees. 

Pulling the curtains back, there wasn't just one reason for the boom across all three metals. Gold's growth came from the uncertainty of inflation combined with sustained purchases by the central bank, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine back in 2022. Silver's surge was driven both by its historic link to gold and its growing role as an industrial metal used in solar panels, electronics, and manufacturing. Finally, copper was most influenced by the increased demand for the metal, for use in manufacturing and power. 

In 2025, the stock market put up a good fight with many of the major regions delivering strong returns. One notable surprise was that the U.S. stock market did not lead returns in 2025. Instead, international stock markets performed better than the assets on the U.S. stock market. Scott Ladner, the chief investment officer at Horizon, summed it up well when speaking with Reuters: "When we look back on 2025, international stock markets dominated U.S. equity performance." 

The difference between the two markets is best measured via indexes. The U.S stock market performed well for 2025, with the S&P 500 index — representing over 80% of the market capitalisation — reporting two-digit returns of roughly 16.4%. Fortunately for some investors, the competition was stronger. The developed market international stocks, measured by the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA), brought in over 35.2% returns, while the emerging market stocks, measured by the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO), rose by 25.6%. All three markets reported growth in the double digits, but the VEA, covering developed international markets such as European, Canadian, and Japanese stocks, more than doubled the growth reported in the U.S stock market. Emerging market stocks focused on China, Taiwan, Brazil, and India also outpaced U.S. market growth.

Answers to the question "Why?" aren't easily found. Reuters reports that investors started eyeing European stocks because of the lower interest rates and better fiscal policies in some of the countries, like Germany, leading to European shares surpassing a four-year annual percentage gain record. 

While U.S. stocks were not the top-performing asset class in 2025, they still delivered solid double-digit returns. Wall Street finished 2025 with annual returns of 16.39% from the S&P 500, 20.36% from the Nasdaq, and 12.97% from the DOW Jones. The performance of stocks on the U.S market becomes a lot more impressive when you stop looking at broad indexes and instead at individual performances. 

MarketWatch identified 20 stocks that drove much of the S&P 500's performance. Western Digital Corp (WDC), developer and manufacturer of data storage solutions, topped the S&P list with annual returns of over 280%. Coming up next were Micron Technology Inc (MU) and Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (STX) with annual returns of 239.1% and 219.1%, respectively. While the top spots were occupied by tech companies, Warner Bros Discovery Inc (WBD) also made the list at number five with annual returns of 172.1%.

In the Financial Times's roundup of stock market winners, Robinhood (HOOD) was the only U.S. company to make the list, posting a 229% annual return. The company more than doubled its stock price from $40 to $113 in the same year.