Month: May 2018

Average return on Stock Market

The S&P 500 provides an average 10% return. The stock market provides an average 7% return. Does this mean you’ll walk away with large profits?
A 10% return on your investment would be a great way to stay financially stable. However, it’s not always reality. The 10% reflects the average over time, as you ride out the highs and lows.
Read this shocking report to learn the average returns on some of the most popular investments today.
© RAFAEL MATSUNAGA (CC BY 2.0) VIA FLICKR
Related: How to Invest in Stocks

STOCK MARKET RETURNS OVER TIME

  1. What is the average stock market return since its inception?
    The average stock market return is around 7%. This takes into account the periods of highs, such as the 1950s, when returns were as much as 16%. It also takes into account the negative 3% returns in the 2000s.
  2. What is the average stock market return over the last 10 years?
    The last decade provided an average return of 6.88% in the stock market. The lower return takes into account the tremendous loss the market took in 2008.
  3. What is the average stock market return over the last 50 years?
    Over the last 50 years, the stock market saw an average return of 10.09%.
  4. What is the average investor’s return on mutual funds?
    The average investor greatly underperforms the stock market. Over the last 30 years, the average investor saw a return of 3.66%, whereas the S&P 500 had an average return of 6.73%.
  5. What is the average rate of return on retirement investments?
    According to Vanguard, over the next 10 years, investors can expect a 6.6% return on stocks in their retirement account. They can also anticipate a 3.1% return on bonds in their portfolio.
  6. What is the average rate of return on mutual funds?
    Mutual funds mimicking the S&P 500 make an average of 7-9% return.
  7. What is the average rate of return on bonds?
    Bonds provide an average return that is ½ of that of the stock market. Bonds usually provide a return of between 5 and 6%.
  8. What is the average dividend yield?
    The average S&P 500 dividend yield remains around 2%.
  9. What is the average rate of inflation?
    The last 10 years have produced a rate of inflation around 1.6%. However, this year, inflation hit just over 2% in April and May.

THE STOCK MARKET

  1. How often does the stock market lose money?
    On average, you can expect a 10% drop in the stock market at least once per year. A larger drop, around 20%, occurs every 3½ years. Crashes, like we experienced in 2008 with more than a 30% drop, don’t happen as often.
  2. What percentage of people lose money in the stock market on average?
    According to Openfolio, only 33% of investors lost money in the stock market in 2016. However, looking at 2015, only 30% of investors made money. While the gain in 2016 was only an average 5%, it’s better than any savings account will provide.
  3. What percentage of people invest in the stock market?
    Today, just about half of Americans invest in stocks. This number is down about 10% from the early 2000s, when more than 60% of Americans invested in the stock market.
  4. What percent of the stock market is owned by individual investors?
    Households own an average of 38% of the U.S. equities market.
  5. What is the average return on emerging markets?
    Emerging markets produce an average return of 14.9%.
  6. What percentage of millennials invest in stocks?
    Only 20% of millennials invest in stocks. This means 80% of 18-34-year-olds are not investing. Breaking this down, it means 60 million people are not investing. The biggest reason they aren’t investing isn’t student loans, though. It’s due to a lack of understanding of the stock market. Another large reason is lack of cash.
  7. What percentage of Generation X invest in stocks?
    51% of Generation X invest in stocks. This may come as a surprise as Gen Xers have had to live through two stock market crashes and the housing crisis.
  8. How much does the average investor need to invest in stocks?
    Today, investors don’t need much to invest. You can even start with $5. How much should you invest? That depends. In reality, you should have at least 6 months of funds set aside for an emergency. Once you are secure, then you can invest with as little as $100. On average, though, investors need $1,000 for solid investments.

INVESTMENTS OTHER THAN STOCKS

  1. What is the average return on high-yield bonds?
    High-yield bonds have an average return of 12.4%; however, this includes the explosive growth in the year 2009. Without 2009, the average return on high-yield bonds is 9.3%.
  2. What is the average return on corporate bonds?
    The average return over the last year on corporate bonds is 4.15%.
  3. What percentage of people invest in bonds?
    Only 2.4% of Americans invest in bonds. Of those Americans, most are among the “very rich.” This number is down more than 2% from 25 years ago.
  4. How much does the average investor need to invest in bonds?
    The average investor puts 25% of his portfolio in bonds. This helps balance out the risk of high-risk investments, such as stocks.
  5. How much does the average investor need to invest in mutual funds?
    Investors typically need between $500 and $3,000 to invest in mutual funds.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The return on your investment could change at any given time. The early 2000s saw some serious lows. But most markets have made a decent comeback. With the right long-term goals, you can ride out the lows and take advantage of the highs.

Repost – Mahatirs take on LKY

1. No matter how friendly or unfriendly we are, the passing away of a man you know well saddens you.
2. I cannot say I was a close friend of Kuan Yew. But still I feel sad at his demise.
3. Kuan Yew became well known at a young age. I was a student in Singapore when I read about his defence of labour unions.
4. I first met Kuan Yew when I was a member of Parliament in 1964 after Singapore joined Malaysia in 1963. We crossed swords many time during the debates. But there was no enmity, only differences in our views of what was good for the newborn nation. He included me among the ultra Malays who was responsible for the racial riots in Singapore. Actually I never went to Singapore to stir up trouble. Somebody else whom I would not name did.
5. The Tunku attended the inaugural meeting of the PAP and was quite friendly with Kuan Yew. He believed Kuan Yew was a bastion against Communism. But when the PAP contested in the Malaysian elections in 1964 with Malaysian Malaysia as its slogan, Tunku felt that the PAP’s presence in Malaysia was going to be disruptive for the country.
6. When I became PM in 1981, I paid a courtesy call on Kuan Yew. It was a friendly call and he immediately agreed to my proposal that the Malaysia and Singapore times which had always been the same should be advanced by half an hour. I explained that it would be easier adjusting our time when travelling as we would fall within the time zones fixed for the whole world at one hour intervals.
7. I am afraid on most other issues we could not agree.
8. When I had a heart attack in 1989 and required open heart surgery, he cared enough to ring up my wife to ask her to delay the operation as he had arranged for the best heart surgeon, a Singaporean living in Australia, to do the operation. But by then, I had been given pre-med and was asleep prior to the operation the next day.
9. My wife thanked him but apologized. She promised to ring him up after the operation. She did the next evening.
10. When he was ill, I requested to see him. He agreed but the night before the visit, the Singapore High Commissioner received a message that he was very sick and could not see me.
11. Still when he attended the Nihon Keizai Shimbun annual conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, which I never failed to attend, I went up to him at dinner to ask how he was. We sat down together to chat and the Japanese photographers took our pictures promising not to put it in the press. I wouldn’t mind even if they did. But I suppose people will make all kinds of stories about it.
12. Now Kuan Yew is no more. His passage marks the end of the period when those who fought for independence lead their countries and knew the value of independence.
13. Asean lost a strong leadership after President Suharto and Lee Kuan Yew.

Decline of business lunch

Twenty years ago I had the privilege of joining biz lunch in Korea.

Was rather odd to have alcohol during worktime but we did! If only to appease an angry customer and in process win more orders for the company!
Nowadays according to business traveler article, biz lunch is on a decline. Grills in hotels are becoming extinct and worse, gone are the days where deals are inked by wining and dining clients!