Since 1926, the US stock market has rewarded investors with an annualized return of about 10%. But returns in any given year may be sky-high, extremely poor, or somewhere in between.
• Annual returns came within two percentage points of the market’s long-term average in just six of the past 97 years.
• Yearly returns have ranged as high as up 54% and as low as down 43%.
• Since 1926, annual returns have been positive 71 times and negative 26 times.