coach d wrote:
agip wrote:what does this mean?
The CAGR of the SP500 since 1/1/1970 in 5.96%, not the 10% the mutual fund industry has indoctrinated people to believe. The difference over 45 years is 31 times less money. And that's why we have the situation as Fortune demonstrated last year that of the 13 million 401k accounts at Fidelity, the odds of someone making less than $150K getting $1 million in their 401K is about 3 times less than being struck by lightning.
http://www.moneychimp.com/features/market_cagr.htm
it's all about the start date. And whether or not you include dividends. Do you know if your number includes dividends?
I'm using the 'since inception' number for the Vanguard Sp500 index fund. It has been in operation since 1976 and has returned 10.84%/year since inception.
Your number either doesn't include dividends or maybe the 50% fall in 1973/4 hurt returns that much. I don't know. But the point is that the numbers ARE there, with the caveat that there are potholes and obvioulsy you have to temper things with bonds and cash as you get closer to retirement.
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0040&FundIntExt=INT#tab=1