Stocks gave the best performance since 1928. In today's world, it's not the same. Or, is it?

Everyone loves posting that chart and saying “just buy stocks and chill.” Cool story. It worked… in the past. \[See image originally published in [https://www.reddit.com/r/Investments/comments/1qc7l9b/stocks\_gave\_the\_best\_performance\_since\_1928\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Investments/comments/1qc7l9b/stocks_gave_the_best_performance_since_1928_in/) \] But the world is quite different now - may more investors (educated or uneducated), many more interests, many more opportunities, different ways to get returns (think about e-Commerce, investing in fractional shares of Real Estate, etc). And, especially, I feel there are more companies getting listed now, and back then only the solid one would make it. Not that it prevented them from falling or failing, but at least there was more structure to that. So… I'm not implying that “**stocks are dead**” as I'm quite invested in that. Just wondering if we’re confusing a great historical run with a permanent law of nature. * Are stocks **still** “the best” because they’re inherently superior, or because the system is now designed to keep them afloat? * Do future returns look anything like the past? * Or are we just anchoring to a history that will not repeat so similarly? * Where does Crypto sit in this equation? And especially: * What other asset, if not stocks, would you see as a winner - or at least as a close competitor to Stocks?