Accurate ●●●●●
US stocks will outperform cash, probably by a wide margin, over the ten years from October 2008.
“Equities will almost certainly outperform cash over the next decade, probably by a substantial degree.”Markets
Who gets the future right?
A public record of predictions made by well-known people: their exact words, when they said them, and how things turned out.
Scorecard
| Person | Category | Predictions | Scored | Accurate | Late | Partial | Wrong | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Ackman | Investor | 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 50% |
| Cathie Wood | Investor | 23 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 37% |
| Jeremy Grantham | Investor | 9 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 50% |
| Jim Cramer | Commentator | 18 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 15% |
| Marc Andreessen | Investor | 14 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 75% |
| Masayoshi Son | Investor | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Michael Burry | Investor | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 56% |
| Michael Saylor | Crypto figure | 15 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 36% |
| Mohamed El-Erian | Economist | 17 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 71% |
| Peter Schiff | Investor | 27 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 24% |
| Peter Thiel | Investor | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10% |
| Ray Dalio | Investor | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 40% |
| Robert Kiyosaki | Commentator | 14 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 33% |
| Vinod Khosla | Investor | 13 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 17% |
| Warren Buffett | Investor | 10 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 75% |
Accuracy counts accurate as 1, late or partial as ½, inaccurate as 0. Pending predictions don't count.
Predictions
Accurate ●●●●●
US unemployment will rise and business activity will weaken in the near term (about a year) after October 2008.
“In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.”Economy
Partly right ●●●●●
The U.S. housing market will bottom and turn around on June 30, 2009.
“In fact, I’ll call the precise date of the housing-market turnaround. It will begin on June 30, 2009.”EconomyMarkets
Inaccurate ●●●●●
U.S. stocks will not fall back to their July 15, 2008 lows (said July 30, 2008).
“The market will not revisit the panicked lows it hit on July 15”Markets
Inaccurate ●●●●●
The Bear Stearns rescue in March 2008 marked the bottom of the U.S. stock market's decline, with no lower lows to follow.
“That $30 billion from the Fed will turn out to be a small price to pay for a bottom in the stock market after the beating we’ve taken over the past eight months.”MarketsBanking
Inaccurate ●●●●●
Bear Stearns was not in trouble and would not fail (said March 11, 2008).
“Bear Stearns is not in trouble. It's more likely to be taken over.”BankingMarkets
Inaccurate ●●●●●
Goldman Sachs stock will finish 2008 at $300 a share.
“Goldman Sachs makes more money than every other brokerage firm in New York combined and finishes the year at $300 a share. Not a prediction — an inevitability.”MarketsBanking
Inaccurate ●●●●●
Google stock will reach $1,000 a share during 2008.
“Google stock reaches $1,000.”MarketsTechnology
Inaccurate ●●●●●
U.S. stocks will rally in the last trading sessions of 2007 (after Dec 21, 2007) through year-end.
“I think we're in for a real ramp up”Markets
Accurate ●●●●●
An S&P 500 index fund will outperform a portfolio of funds of hedge funds, net of fees, over 2008-2017.
“Over a ten-year period commencing on January 1, 2008, and ending on December 31, 2017, the S&P 500 will outperform a portfolio of funds of hedge funds, when performance is measured on a basis net of fees, costs and expenses.”Markets
Inaccurate ●●●●●
Cellulosic ethanol will be produced at $1.25 per gallon or cheaper within three years (by January 2010).
“I so believe that $1.25 or cheaper cellulosic ethanol is less than three years away”EnergyClimate
Accurate ●●●●●
Lenders and the government will tighten credit standards and US home prices will fall sharply from their highs.
“You're going to start to see both the government and the lenders re-imposing lending standards and tightening up on credit. And these sky-high real estate prices are going to come crashing back down to earth.”EconomyBanking
Right, but late ●●●●●
Commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants will be operating within three to six years (by end of 2012 at the latest).
“So, my guess is, if we're lucky, we'll have commercial-scale plants in three years. If we're very unlucky, it will be six.”EnergyClimate
Accurate ●●●●●
US consumers will cut spending and rebuild savings as their home equity evaporates, pushing the US economy into a recession.
“And what's going to happen is the American consumer is basically going to stop consuming and start rebuilding his savings, especially when he sees his home equity evaporate. And when you have the economy 70 percent consumption, you can't address those imbalances without a recess…”Economy
Inaccurate ●●●●●
By May 2026, biomass-based ethanol will replace most US gasoline use.
“Based on my forecasts, including the considerable upside afforded by technology innovations, biomass based ethanol can replace most of our gasoline needs in twenty years”EnergyClimate
Inaccurate ●●●●●
The dot-com tech-stock boom of early 2000 was very far from ending (said Feb 29, 2000).
“And we will keep doing so until this period is over – and it is very far from ending”MarketsTechnology
Accurate ●●●●●
US stocks will return far less over the 17 years from 1999 than the ~19% a year of 1981-1998, most probably about 6% a year nominal for investors in aggregate.
“I think it’s very hard to come up with a persuasive case that equities will over the next 17 years perform anything like–anything like–they’ve performed in the past 17. If I had to pick the most probable return, from appreciation and dividends combined, that investors in aggrega…”Markets
Inaccurate ●●●●●
PayPal will make it nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal citizens' wealth through inflation and currency devaluation, because people will switch to stronger currencies.
“It will be nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal wealth from their people through their old means”TechnologyEconomy
Accurate ●●●●●
Cable Internet access to homes will arrive within three to four years of August 1995 (by August 1999).
“I think one of the exciting things that going to happen over the next three or four years is cable Internet access.”Technology
Accurate ●●●●●
New access providers (MCI, the regional Bells, online services) will offer cheap nationwide Internet access, sharply increasing the number of people going online by about 1997.
“They are going to provide nationwide coverage at extremely competitive rates. It's going to be really revolutionary in terms of the number of people who will be going online.”Technology
Right, but late ●●●●●
About ten years out (by 2005), multi-megabit data access, including wireless, will be available just about everywhere.
“You’re going to get megabits of data while you’re eating, and you are not even going to think twice about it.”Technology
Partly right ●●●●●
From 1995 to 2005, network bandwidth will grow and fall in price even faster than microprocessor power improves.
“I don't think it's too much of an overstatement to say that bandwidth is going to be increasing, overall, in scope – and decreasing in price – even faster than microprocessors are in terms of power over the next 10 years”Technology
Accurate ●●●●●
Within three to five years (by 1999), the Internet/Web will become a new mass medium for society in general.
“three to five years from now there will be a new type of medium for society in general.”Technology