common stocks generally have generated returns of 10 to 11 percent after inflation for many years and that those returns can’t continue for a very long period. And they can’t. It’s simply impossible. The wealth of the world will compound at no such rate. Whatever experience Stanford has had in its portfolio for the last 15 years, its future experience is virtually certain to be worse. It may still be okay. But it’s been a hog-heaven period for investors over the last 15 years. Bonanza effects of such scale can’t last forever.
