"Ignoramus32252" wrote in message
...
S&P 500 in 1966: 93.3
S&P 500 in 2009: 756

CPI Deflator in 1966: 31
CPI Deflator in 2009: 211

S&P 500 annualized capital gain in the last 43 years, inflation adjusted:
0.44% per year.


While your statistics are not false they don't show a true picture of
things. As with all statistics they are meant to generalize things so to
give one a clear picture of reality. Lots of times the statistics are true
but they show a picture that is not. What you have done is averaged a long
term trend with a short term event, the precipitous drop in the market we
had in the last few months. You could have done the same thing after the
market dropped 25% in 1987. By averaging the long term average with our
extreme drop over the last few months it makes it look like there were no
gains in forty years. If you had stopped your statistics in 2007 you would
have had a completely different picture. You would have a lot different
picture if you had statistics from 1966 to 2016. It's like this. If you
averaged Bill Gates' and my wealth we would both be billionaires.
Unfortunately for me that isn't really a true picture of my financial
situation. What's that saying about lies, damn lies, and statistics? Make
real sure you know what you are doing with them because they can really
confuse you if you don't.

Hawke