The UK's best-performing fund manager of the financial crisis? A lump of Gold Bullion...

GOSH but how time flies! gasps Adrian Ash at BullionVault. This year will see the global financial crisis mark its 5th birthday.

And now the little blighter's out of short trousers, it's worth surveying the wreckage to see who coped best with the terrible toddler so far.

Let's start with the City of London's top fund managers. Who's made money for investors since 2007...?

The UK's Top Funds vs. Bullion: Annualized Returns in Per Cent

	1 year	5 year	10 year
Gold	16.72	26.07	18.18
Silver	1.74	22.44	20.03
Best UK fund sector	Index-Linked Gilts	Greater China	Emerging Markets
Best sector's average	13.4	11.27	15.23
Single best fund	Henderson Long-Dated Gilt	Quadris (forestry)	Blackrock Gold & General
Best fund's gain	31.63	17.03	22.38
No. of separate funds beating gold	38	0	3

Compound annual growth rate, including dividends and annual charges. Bullion prices from London Bullion Market Association (16/12/11), storage costs from BullionVault. Sector data from Investment Management Association (12 months to end-Oct). Fund data from MorningStar (UK domiciled, non-institutional, 16/12/11).

Yes, any self-respecting analyst or advisor will rightly tell you to beware chasing yesterday's winners. But as you can see, for UK savers and investors, physical bullion – whether gold or silver – has proven to be uniquely suited to this financial crisis so far.

All told, over the 5 years to mid-December 2011, Gold Bullion priced in Sterling returned 218% net of ongoing storage costs. Physical silver rose 175% after storage costs. And the best-performing UK-domiciled fund available to retail investors? It returned 120% over the same period, including dividends and ongoing fees. Funds in the best-performing sector, Greater China, averaged just over 70% growth.

Those China equity funds cost an average maximum of 4.6% in upfront charges. Buying Gold or silver on BullionVault costs a maximum 0.8% in dealing fees. So that's more than 3 times the return, for lower costs. And why?

Because they are physical property, rather than anyone else's financial promise, gold and silver cannot go bust, unlike Britain's ailing banks or even neighboring governments across the Channel. Silver and gold bullion are also rare and tightly supplied, unlike the flood of money from the Bank of England, franctically trying to prop up the UK's banking system.

So despite all the experience and expertise of the UK's fund management industry, in short, you would have done much better Buying Silver – and better still Buying Gold – on the eve of this half-decade crisis than entrusting your savings to the City.

Past performance is no guarantee of the future. Only you can decide the best place for your money. If you are considering Buying Gold or physical Silver Bullion today, be sure to own what you buy – and don't one penny more than you need, only to get less than you want. Visit BullionVault to learn more...