Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Robbins: Private equity outperformed S&P 500 14.2% to 9.2% over 35 years

Tony Robbins · Tony Robbins on the Future of Health & Longevity · Dec 20, 2023 · at 1:24:13

Author and strategist Tony Robbins compares historical compound annual growth rates of private equity versus public markets on the a16z Podcast.

0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.2s

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“This one is called the holy grail of investing, and it's really based on the fact that for, you know, the last 35 years, as I'm sure you know, the S&P has been up, what, 9.2, and the average private equity has been up 14.2.”

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The claim, plainly

Over the last 35 years, private equity average returns were 14.2% annualized compared to 9.2% for the S&P 500.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Historical financial benchmark data confirms Tony Robbins' statement. Data from Cambridge Associates covering U.S. Private Equity performance from 1986 through 2023 shows a pooled net IRR of approximately 14.2% annualized. Over the same ~35-year period, the S&P 500 total return (including reinvested dividends) averaged approximately 9.2% annualized. While financial analysts note methodological differences between private equity's money-weighted IRR and public market time-weighted returns, the specific figures cited match the benchmark statistics.

Cambridge Associates U.S. Private Equity Index data spanning 1986–2023 yields a pooled net horizon IRR of approximately 14.2%.
S&P 500 total return data over the matching 1986–2023 period yields an annualized return of approximately 9.2%.

Checked against

[1] a16z.com [2] youtube.com [3] youtube.com [4] scribd.com [5] bsic.it [6] cambridgeassociates.com [7] cfainstitute.org [8] futurestandard.com

"14.2%" "9.2%" "private equity" "S&P 500" Tony Robbins Tony Robbins a16z podcast 35 years private equity 14.2 9.2 Cambridge Associates US private equity index 35 year return 14.2 9.2 private equity 35 year annualized return 14.2 S&P 500 9.2

assessed as of 2026-07-28

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Mentioned

private equity S&P 500

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