If you’re saving into a total market index fund, your returns should go up in relation to inflation OVER THE LONG TERM.
I’ve been investing for decades in VTSAX and similar across a few retirement accounts, and while there have been ups and downs, since I don’t touch it and keep adding to it in small amounts over time, I’ve had great success with beating inflation while doing absolutely nothing to manage my investment.
Yes, there was basically a whole decade that didn’t do well, the following decade more than made up for the slow returns.
That’s just how retirement investments work. You don’t look at a single quarter, year, or even decade, you look at your entire working life plus retirement. And the market has always been ahead at those time frames.
That’s just how retirement investments work. You don’t look at a single quarter, year, or even decade, you look at your entire working life plus retirement. And the market has always been ahead at those time frames.
I feel like that is unfair without more data.
Did the boomers lose a decade of growth on their retirements?
Relative to them the gen x’rs and millennials have had 1/5 less time for their assets to grow (assuming you save for around 50 years) when compared to wealthier generations. And it was relatively early in their careers when the money would have the most impact.
Yup, there were a large number of downturns over the decades. The 90’s and the 00’s were squarely in the tail end of boomer retirement years and they ended up just fine.
The great depression bounced back and even if you invested at that time, over the long term you would have come out ahead of you just held onto a total market position.
Pull up any Dow Jones historical chart and you’ll see plenty of flat or short term dips, ones that held for several years, but in the end the line still went up faster than inflation.
If you’re saving into a total market index fund, your returns should go up in relation to inflation OVER THE LONG TERM.
I’ve been investing for decades in VTSAX and similar across a few retirement accounts, and while there have been ups and downs, since I don’t touch it and keep adding to it in small amounts over time, I’ve had great success with beating inflation while doing absolutely nothing to manage my investment.
Yes, there was basically a whole decade that didn’t do well, the following decade more than made up for the slow returns.
That’s just how retirement investments work. You don’t look at a single quarter, year, or even decade, you look at your entire working life plus retirement. And the market has always been ahead at those time frames.
I feel like that is unfair without more data.
Did the boomers lose a decade of growth on their retirements?
Relative to them the gen x’rs and millennials have had 1/5 less time for their assets to grow (assuming you save for around 50 years) when compared to wealthier generations. And it was relatively early in their careers when the money would have the most impact.
Yup, there were a large number of downturns over the decades. The 90’s and the 00’s were squarely in the tail end of boomer retirement years and they ended up just fine.
The great depression bounced back and even if you invested at that time, over the long term you would have come out ahead of you just held onto a total market position.
Pull up any Dow Jones historical chart and you’ll see plenty of flat or short term dips, ones that held for several years, but in the end the line still went up faster than inflation.
https://www.macrotrends.net/1319/dow-jones-100-year-historical-chart
Every generation had multiple periods where the market looked poor, but if you don’t prepare for the future, you guarantee a shitty retirement.
If you save and prepare for the future, you at least have a chance of being comfortable in your old age.