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Returns are almost never average

Excerpt
Donald Bennyhoff
Vanguard Blog, What’s your benchmark for investment success? November 16, 2017

Notes: Represents each calendar year from 1926 to 2016 (91 points = 91 years) plotted at the intersection of that year’s stock return and that year’s bond return. The vertical shaded area contains all years whose stock return was between 8% and 12%. The horizontal shaded area contains all years whose bond return was between 3% and 7%. Stock returns are represented by the Standard & Poor’s 90 Index from 1926 through March 3, 1957; the S&P 500 Index from March 4, 1957, through 1974; the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Index from 1975 through April 22, 2005; the MSCI US Broad Market Index from April 23, 2005, through June 2, 2013; and the CRSP US Total Market Index thereafter. Bond returns are represented by the S&P High Grade Corporate Index from 1926 to 1968, the Citigroup High Grade Index from 1969 to 1972, the Lehman Brothers U.S. Long Credit AA Index from 1973 to 1975, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index from 1976 to 2009, and the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index thereafter.