Why invest in U.S. stocks when the safest investment in the world—U. S. government debt—pays the most it has since 2007? That is the new question facing investors now that the yield on the 10-year Treasury note is approaching 5%.

Rock-bottom interest rates and record money-printing from the Federal Reserve shifted the picture of what successful investing looked like since the 2008 financial crisis. Roughly 15 years of nearly free cash spurred a tech boom, exponential gains by venture capitalists, and an investing mania tied to digital tokens and stocks on the brink of bankruptcy.