Returns by Year: What Stocks, Gold, Bonds & Co. Really Delivered 2021–2025
2026-08-15
This article is written for investors in Germany — tax rules and broker examples apply accordingly.
Our card says "~10 %" for equities; our calculator uses 7.5 %. But not a single year actually looks like that. An average hides the rollercoaster behind it. Here are the real yearly returns from 2021 to 2025 for the main asset classes — including the years that hurt.
An honesty note first: returns depend heavily on currency and data source. We show equities and bonds in euros (the real experience of an investor here); gold, real estate and crypto are usually quoted in US dollars — for a euro investor the 2024/2025 figures were partly higher because the dollar weakened, and 2025 partly lower because the euro strengthened. All values are rounded and taken from index and fund factsheets (MSCI, Bloomberg, FTSE EPRA Nareit, World Gold Council).
Yearly returns at a glance
| Asset class | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity ETF (MSCI World, EUR) | +31 % | −13 % | +20 % | +27 % | +7 % |
| Bonds (Global Aggregate, EUR-hedged) | −2 % | −13 % | +5 % | +2 % | +3 % |
| Gold (USD) | −4 % | 0 % | +13 % | +27 % | ~+40 % |
| Real estate (REIT, global, USD) | +23 % | −24 % | +10 % | +2 % | +2 % |
| Cash (avg. Germany) | ~0 % | ~0 % | ~2 % | ~2.5 % | ~2 % |
| Crypto (Bitcoin, USD) | +60 % | −64 % | +155 % | +121 % | −6 % |
Two things jump out immediately: the numbers swing wildly, and 2022 was a bad year for almost everything at once.
VWCE and IWDA — why we show "MSCI World"
The two most-bought equity ETFs for European investors are VWCE (Vanguard FTSE All-World) and IWDA (iShares MSCI World). The difference: IWDA holds developed markets only, VWCE adds roughly 10 % emerging markets. Their yearly returns are therefore close — usually within one or two percentage points. The figures above use the MSCI World (net, in euros) as a representative value; VWCE ran slightly below in some years and slightly above in others, depending on emerging markets.
The bad year: 2022
If you take one line from this article, take this: in 2022, stocks and bonds fell at the same time — and sharply. Equities −13 %, bonds −13 %. That's remarkable because bonds normally act as a cushion: when stocks fall, they usually hold or rise. Not in 2022. The cause was the fastest interest-rate rise in decades — and rising rates push down the prices of existing bonds.
Listed real estate was hit even harder: REITs lost around −24 %, because they are especially rate-sensitive. And crypto crashed −64 % (the year of Terra/Luna and the FTX collapse).
What held up in 2022? Only gold (roughly 0 % in USD, slightly positive in euros) and cash (just above zero nominally — but in real terms, after inflation, a heavy loss). That's the lesson an average never shows: there are years when almost everything loses at once.
Other "bad years" for context
2022 was not a one-off. A few historical low points, so the numbers above don't look too friendly:
- 2008 (financial crisis): the MSCI World lost around 40 %.
- 2018: a weak equity year at roughly −4 % — mild, but real.
- 2020 (COVID crash): the market fell over 30 % intra-year — but recovered within the same year and closed positive. A year that shows the path inside a year can be far more dramatic than the year-end number.
- 2013: gold lost 28 % — after a decade of almost uninterrupted gains.
Why these numbers differ from our cards
The home page says "~10 %" for equities; here you see +31 %, −13 %, +20 %, +27 %, +7 %. No contradiction — these are three different lenses, each with its own purpose:
The card figure (~10 %) is a historical 10-year average. It smooths the rollercoaster into a single number so you can compare asset classes roughly. But it says nothing about the path.
This table shows the actual individual years — the jumps the average hides. "10 % on average" does not mean "+10 % every year"; it means an up-and-down that averages to ~10 % over time.
Our portfolio calculator deliberately uses more conservative, forward-looking assumptions (e.g. 7.5 % instead of 10 % for equities). Past returns are not a forecast — for planning it's wiser not to project the best decade into the future.
In short: the card looks back and smooths, this table shows reality year by year, the calculator plans cautiously forward. All three are honest — they simply answer different questions.
What to take away
- Averages don't lie, but they reassure too much. The real experience is bumpy. If you want the +27 % (2024), you must also survive the −13 % (2022).
- Diversification helps — but not always. In 2022 stocks and bonds fell together. That's exactly when a bit of gold and an emergency cash cushion showed their worth.
- Your time horizon decides. Over 5 years (2021–2025) an equity ETF gained substantially despite the −13 % year. Over a single year, anything is possible.
- Crypto is its own category. +155 %, then +121 %, then −6 % — and −64 % before that. You can't responsibly build such numbers into a portfolio forecast; that's why we deliberately don't project crypto.
If you'd like to find out which mix fits your situation and your nerves, our free questionnaire helps in a few minutes — no sign-up, no ads.
This is educational material, not financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Returns are rounded and vary by currency and data source.