How One Thing Does Not Change in the Investing World: Human Behavior

If you had invested in stocks in 1965, you would have made almost nothing over the next 17 years. If you had bought bonds instead, you would have doubled your money. The 1970s and early 1980s were a painful reminder that the best-performing asset class does not stay the best forever. Yet through every cycle, every crash, and every boom, one thing remains constant: human behavior. Fear and greed, panic and euphoria, the urge to chase what is rising and sell what is falling — these instincts do not change with time. They only change their target.

Before the widespread adoption of the internet in the mid-1990s, the best-performing investments were often the "boring" industrial, consumer, and energy companies that dominated the economy for decades.

Performance varied significantly by decade before the internet:

1950s–1960s: Large-cap growth stocks and small-cap value stocks led the way during the postwar economic boom.
1970s: This was a difficult stretch for stocks because of high inflation. Gold, commodities, and energy stocks were the clear winners, while bonds and traditional equities struggled to deliver positive real returns.
1980s: This was a strong period for large-cap stocks and bonds, as interest rates peaked and then declined, fueling a major bull market in both equities and fixed income.

Every period has its favorite and best-performing investments. The internet boom of 1995–2000 and the artificial intelligence wave from 2023 onward produced some of the most explosive wealth creation in market history, driven by infrastructure builders and platform leaders.

The Internet Boom (1995–2000)

The dot-com craze was characterized by speculative mania, but it also produced companies that fundamentally rewired the global economy. While many "concept" stocks went to zero, the survivors delivered extraordinary returns.

Inseego (formerly Novatel Wireless): One of the standout performers of the era, with a stock price that rose dramatically as mobile broadband technology emerged.
Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline): Produced enormous gains and helped transform online travel into a global industry.
Qualcomm: A core beneficiary of the wireless internet revolution, with strong returns as mobile phones began to proliferate.
Amazon: Since its 1997 IPO, it generated massive gains by the end of the 1990s. While it later crashed sharply, it went on to become one of the most valuable companies in history, defining e-commerce and cloud computing.
Cisco Systems: The "plumber" of the internet, Cisco saw its stock rise sharply in the late 1990s. Although it never regained its inflation-adjusted 2000 peak, it remains a cash-flow giant.

The AI Wave (2023–Present)

The AI boom differs from the dot-com years because its leaders are already highly profitable giants rather than speculative startups. The returns have been driven by the demand for computing power, chips, and data center infrastructure.

Nvidia: The undisputed leader of the AI revolution. Since the explosion of generative AI in 2023, the stock has surged dramatically. Over the last 30 years, it has become one of the best-performing S&P 500 stocks, with extraordinary total returns. It also became the first company to reach a $5 trillion valuation in 2025.
Monster Beverage: Surprisingly, one of the greatest long-term stock performers is not a tech company but an energy drink maker. It has delivered exceptional returns over the last 25 years, though it is not an AI play.
Microsoft: A key beneficiary of the AI boom through its major stake in OpenAI and Azure cloud growth, while also trading on far more grounded fundamentals than many dot-com-era leaders.
Broadcom: A critical supplier of custom AI chips and networking equipment, with strong long-term returns supported by profitable growth.
Astera Labs: A newer "picks and shovels" company providing connectivity solutions for AI data centers, and a notable example of infrastructure demand emerging around AI.

Why This Time Feels Different

Today's investors are more disciplined, data-driven, and realistic than the speculative crowd of the late 1990s. That said, pockets of euphoria still exist, and the structural foundation of the AI boom is different from the dot-com bubble.

The modern market is dominated by institutional investors who use rigorous fundamental analysis, which contrasts with the more retail-driven speculation of 1999.

Institutional dominance: As of early 2026, many global institutional investors are allocating capital to AI, but they tend to be selective. Unlike the dot-com era, when any company with a ".com" suffix could soar, today's investors are more likely to rotate away from businesses that fail to convert spending into revenue growth.
Data-driven discipline: Investors now use AI tools to analyze earnings and research faster than ever. That creates a quicker feedback loop, where weak monetization or unrealistic projections can be punished more rapidly than in the past.
Risk management: The "greater fool" theory is less visible because valuation models now emphasize free cash flow and profitability. In 1999, Cisco traded at very high earnings multiples with little concern for fundamentals. Today, even high-flying AI leaders are often judged against actual profit growth and cash generation rather than pure hype.

What Never Changes

One important fact does not change: human behavior. The stock market reflects human emotion. No amount of algorithmic trading or institutional discipline can fully eliminate the psychological extremes of euphoria and panic that drive bubbles and crashes. In 1999, greed showed up as buying any stock with a ".com" suffix. Today, it can show up as paying premium valuations for AI infrastructure. The objects of speculation change, but the impulse to chase returns and the fear of missing out remain the same.

Even with more sophisticated risk models, markets are still made up of people making decisions under uncertainty. When prices rise relentlessly, skepticism fades, and the belief that "this time is different" takes hold, regardless of the era. Conversely, when sentiment shifts, even rational investors can fall into herd behavior and sell in panic despite strong fundamentals.

The greatest challenge today is not only market volatility or economic uncertainty. It is information overload and the erosion of reliability. We are living in the most advanced time in human history, yet our minds have never felt more exhausted. Constant noise, endless headlines, and the pressure to react to every update have created a state of chronic mental fatigue. We have the greatest tools ever developed, but our minds are overworked. Fear and information saturation have left many people mentally drained, and too little attention is paid to how we should use these tools in a way that protects our well-being rather than undermines it.

The investor who understands this knows that the real battle is not only in the markets. It is in their own head. Learning to filter out the noise, step back from the constant stream of data, and trust the process over panic is the edge that never goes out of style. That is the philosophy that works in every period, with every asset class, and through every cycle.