What Are The Historical Returns For Stocks, Bonds, Gold, Real Estate, And Cash? (Asset Class Returns)

Do you sometimes wonder what are the historical returns for stocks, bonds, gold, real estate, and cash? Which asset class has performed the best over the last century? We are wondering, and we thus decided to compile all the data into tables and statistics. We calculated the historical returns and got these numbers:

Stocks have returned 9.9% since 1928, gold 5%, bonds 4.6%, real estate 4.3%, and cash 3.3%. 

Not surprisingly, stocks have performed the best over the last century. We suspect that many are surprised that real estate has not performed better than a “mediocre” 4.3%. 

What Are The Historical Returns For Stocks, Bonds, Gold, Real Estate, And Cash? Database

We decided to have dig into the database of Aswath Damodaran, the famous lecturer at Stern University in New York.

He has been so kind to publish it for free! Even better, he updates the data frequently. You find a link to it here.

Historical returns from 1928 until today

Let’s look at what 100 invested in 1928 is worth for the main asset classes:

If you invested 100 in 1928, we see that stocks have outclassed bonds, gold, real estate, and cash. It’s a slam dunk for stocks. The chart above is logarithmic (a linear chart would not make sense, see here for linear vs. logarithmic charts and scale).

Because the chart is logarithmic, the enormous differences don’t show as well, so let’s summarize the findings in a table. The table below probably illustrates better the differences (showing the value today of 100 invested in 1928):

	S&P 500	Gold	Cash	Real estate	Bonds
100 in 1928 is worth today	787,018	10,041	2,249	5,360	7,278
CAGR/Return %	9.9	5	3.3	4.3	4.6

In case you wondered, dividends are included in the backtest. 

100 invested in the stock market in 1928 would have been worth 787 thousand today, compared