When investing the same amount every month (dollar-cost averaging), the difference becomes even larger. Using your portfolios, but adding $250/month in addition

When investing the same amount every month (dollar-cost averaging), the difference becomes even larger. Using your portfolios, but adding $250/month in addition to the initial investment of $10k, you end up with $128k with gold and $207k with SPY (total investment ~$85k): https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&timePeriod=4&startYear=1985&firstMonth=1&endYear=2021&lastMonth=12&calendarAligned=true&includeYTD=false&initialAmount=10000&annualOperation=1&annualAdjustment=250&inflationAdjusted=true&annualPercentage=0.0&frequency=2&rebalanceType=1&absoluteDeviation=5.0&relativeDeviation=25.0&reinvestDividends=true&showYield=false&showFactors=false&factorModel=3&portfolioNames=false&portfolioName1=Portfolio+1&portfolioName2=Portfolio+2&portfolioName3=Portfolio+3&symbol1=GLD&allocation1_1=100&symbol2=SPY&allocation2_2=100 https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&t... (with QQQ, it'd be $380k) Comparing one-off investments is very dependent on the start date, and dollar-cost averaging more accurately models what people can actually do and which returns one may be able to expect. Who has a large lump sum laying around to invest rather than investing a portion of one's income every month/quarter?