1990 · $5,000

It’s 1990. You’ve got $5,000.

Where do you put it? It’s a stock market game where you don’t pick stocks. You answer five questions about what you care about, and that turns into a plan. Every five years you see what happened and decide what to change. The returns are what really happened, year by year, through 2025.

The Berlin Wall came down two months ago and the Cold War looks like it’s ending. Banks are still cleaning up the savings and loan mess. Most homes don’t have a computer yet.

It takes about five minutes.

What $5,000 in January 1990 became by the end of 2025

Kind of investment	End of 2025
Tech	$545,608
Big steady companies	$194,074
Small up-and-comers	$158,719
Gold	$54,436
Bonds	$26,990
Real estate	$21,468
Cash	$13,362

With dividends and interest put back in, before taxes and fees.

What you’re choosing between

Big steady companiesThe biggest U.S. companies. In 1990, think General Electric, Exxon, Coca-Cola and Walmart.
Small up-and-comersThousands of small companies. A few grew into names like Starbucks or Dell. Most you never heard of.
TechTech companies. Think Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and Apple, and later Google and Nvidia.
Bonds10-year U.S. Treasury notes. You lend the government money and it pays you interest.
Cash3-month Treasury bills, about what a money market account paid.
Real estateThe price of a typical American house.
GoldGold bars and coins.

Questions about investing in 1990

Are the returns real?

Yes. Every year from 1990 through 2025 uses what that kind of investment actually returned that year, with dividends and interest included. Nothing is made up or smoothed out.

Why don’t I pick stocks?

Because then the game would be about remembering which companies won. Kinds of investments let you play the way people really had to decide in 1990, without knowing how it ends.

What would $5,000 in 1990 be worth today?

It depends on where it went. In big US companies with dividends put back in, about $194,000 by the end of 2025. In cash, about $13,000. In tech, about $546,000, if you could sit through the 2000 crash.

What would $1,000 invested in 1990 be worth today?

In big U.S. companies with dividends put back in, about $38,800 by the end of 2025. In tech, about $109,000. Left in cash, about $2,700. Calculators that run past 2025 land a little higher.

Is this investing advice?

No. It’s a game about what already happened. Past returns don’t tell you what the next five years will do.