Research indicates that over the past 33 years, 73% of the time the market is up; 24% of the time the market is down; and 3% of the time it produces flat results. However, over the past 80 years, large company stocks have averaged 10.4% investment returns; government bonds have averaged 5.5% investment returns; and inflation has eroded your investment returns by an average of 3%.

Despite the expected temporary ups and downs commonly referred to as "market volatility," this graph illustrates the superior returns achieved by stocks over other asset classes with $1 invested at year end from 1925 to 2005.

(Assumes $1 invested at year ends 1925 - 2005, all dividends reinvested. Source: Ibbotson)