5 Options for Your First 10 Million Tomans, and the Risk of Each

Where should your first savings go? There are five familiar places: a bank deposit, a fixed-income fund, a gold fund, a gold coin and stocks. Each has its own return and its own risk. We read the same window for all five from Sahmino's records, 16 November 2025 to 14 November 2026, and worked out where 10 million tomans would have ended up in each, and how deep the worst fall along the way was.

The yardstick: prices over the same year

The Statistical Centre of Iran's consumer price index (base 1400 = 100) stood at 403.78 for the month to 22 October 2025 and 761.79 for the month to 22 October 2026: point-to-point inflation of 88.7% (761.79 / 403.78 = 1.887). So 10 million tomans that only wanted to keep pace with prices needed to reach about 18.9 million tomans. That is the latest month the Statistical Centre has published, about three weeks short of the price window, so the real comparisons below are approximate.

Five options, one window

• Bank deposit: the ceiling on deposit rates is set by the Money and Credit Council, and the principal in the account does not fall. We could not confirm from an official document the exact deposit rate in force across the whole window, so we do not quote one. Donya-e-Eqtesad wrote on 8 November 2026 that calculations put the real rate on bank deposits and loans at around minus 35%: deposits, like the fixed-income fund, fell behind prices.
• Fixed-income fund (example: YGHT, Yaghut, one of the largest in its group): the closing price went from 35,908 rials to 49,349 rials, a 37.4% gain. 10 million tomans became about 13.7 million tomans. The close never fell below its previous high in any session, but the fund did not trade for five sessions from 28 February 2026. Against inflation, purchasing power fell about 27% (1.374 / 1.887 = 0.728).
• Gold fund (example: MOFD, Ayar, the largest gold fund): the close went from 312,361 rials to 673,142 rials, up 115.5%; 10 million tomans became about 21.6 million tomans. Worst fall: from a close of 596,182 rials on 3 May 2026 to 442,228 rials on 23 June 2026, or 25.8%. After inflation it was about 14% ahead.
• Emami gold coin: from 115.2 million tomans (1,151,900,000 rials) to 252.5 million tomans (2,525,150,000 rials), up 119.2%. Worst fall: from 2,099,950,000 rials on 29 January 2026 to 1,580,050,000 rials on 16 June 2026, or 24.8%. The catch for a small sum: 10 million tomans buys neither a full coin nor even a quarter coin, which cost about 72.5 million tomans on 14 November 2026. That is why small sums usually go into a gold fund.
• Stocks (the TEDPIX, the Tehran Stock Exchange main index): from 3,139,589 points to 8,354,007 points, up 166.1%. Worst fall: from 4,491,769 points on 19 January 2026 to 3,618,482 points on 22 February 2026, or 19.4%. After that the index did not move from late February to mid-May 2026, because the stock market was shut for about 80 days and nobody could sell. The index is the market average; a single stock can do much better or much worse.

The calculation, done twice

Return = close on 14 November 2026 / close on 16 November 2025, minus one. Worst fall = (highest close up to that day minus the lowest close after it) / that highest close, over every session in the window. Real return = (one plus the return) / 1.887, minus one. All figures are closing prices recorded by Sahmino.

What this leaves out

Trading fees are not included: a round trip in stocks costs about 1.25%, as our report on signal-channel traps sets out. A coin also has a gap between its buying and selling price and trades above the value of the gold inside it. Deposit interest is usually paid monthly and builds no compounding unless it is deposited again, which our piece on compounding under inflation explains. And last year says nothing certain about next year.

Summary

The calm options, the deposit and the fixed-income fund, did not shrink the money, but they fell behind prices. Gold, the coin and stocks beat prices, but each one at some point temporarily lost between a fifth and a quarter of its value. If this money is a rent payment due in a few months, that fall can force you to sell at a loss. So before you choose, ask yourself when you will need this money. Compare fund returns side by side in Sahmino's funds section, and find the day's price of the Emami coin and the Ayar gold fund on Sahmino.