Originally Posted by
Gary Ragatz
I don't mean to be contentious, but if you're not talking about recent history, then why "especially now?" I'm in my 60's, I've been investing since the early 1970's, and have seen a lot of ups and downs in the stock market. No disagreement about your statement that stocks outperform in the very long term, but the point I was trying to make in my post is that different people have different investment planning horizons, and long-term average performance may not be the most relevant consideration. While the stock market's long term performance is great, I've also lived through periods where the 10-year annualized return for the S&P was negative (early 70's and early 2000's).
If I were talking to a young investor today, I'd tell him/her to invest in stocks, not "especially now," but "even now" - even though we're ten years into a bull market, even though the market indices are at all-time highs, even though stock valuations are historically high. I'd make that suggestion because I understand, like you do, that over the 35 years-or-so that kid has left before retirement, it will likely work to his/her advantage.