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%