Investment performance can vary greatly depending on the time period in which they are held. While stocks and gold have delivered solid returns in recent years, bonds and some alternative assets have lagged, especially in the post-pandemic era of rising interest rates, according to an analysis by visualcapitalist.com, which presents annualized returns and volatility across major asset classes over three distinct periods: long-term (1990-2025), medium-term (2010-2025) and the most recent cycle (