I don’t believe in market timing, and I think investing (be it in the market, real estate, or almost all other potential investments) is ideally a long-term game. But as the chart I just received from blog-contributor Ray Link illustrates, the market certainly has hot and not-so-hot decades (and right now we are in a chilly one). Of course if you started investing in 1980 and stuck to the course, the current market is a minor annoyance and a blip on the performance screen. Personally. I am in this for the long haul, and see opportunity unfolding right now (since I plan on living a few more decades).
An Analysis of S&P Returns
Decade Cumulative Return Annualized Return
1930-1939 -41.9% -5.3%
1940-1949 34.8% 3.0%
1950-1959 256.7% 13.6%
1960-1969 53.7% 4.4%
1970-1979 17.2% 1.6%
1980-1989 227.4% 12.6%
1990-1999 315.7% 15.3%
2000- June 2008 -12.8% -1.6%