"I don't trust the stock market". I've heard that a lot over my 33 year career. It may even be the way you're feeling right now. Did the negative double-digit returns of the S&P 500 at the beginning of the year (which was the worst January in the history of the stock market), only to be followed by a positive double-digit return since mid-February, leave you feeling the same queasiness as riding the Wildcat roller coaster, the oldest continuously operating wooden coaster, at Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut? As the chart below shows the S&P 500 has a positive return in 27 of the last 36 years. Of course that means we've had nine years of negative returns during that time. The average annual return for the 36 years has been over 11%. But in order to enjoy that 11% return you must have been able to endure an average, temporary, intra- year decline of 14.2%.
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