Did you know that the longest losing streak recorded for an investment in the S&P 500 index lasted for nearly 16 years?  

It's true - for an S&P 500 index investor who plunked down good money in the index when the stock market peaked in value in September 1929, right before the market crashed the following October, they didn't even begin breaking even and making money on their investment until 1945!

By contrast, the best annualized rate of return for a 16-year period in the S&P 500 index is 19.6%, which an investor who initiated their investment in July 1982 might have realized.  Meanwhile, the average annualized rate of return for an investment in the S&P 500 for time periods of any length is 9.4%.

To be fully accurate, actual returns realized from stock market investments are less than these values, given the effects of taxes, fees, commissions and inflation - but you can see why the stock market can be so attractive for the long term investor.  That's why Political Calculations has mined stock market history data to create the following analysis and tools:

Mapping S&P 500 Performance, Since 1871


Mapping Stock Market Extremes and Mapping Average Stock Market Returns


Lemony Snicket vs. King Midas


Best and Worst Case Stock Market Investing


How To Use Our Tools

Long-term investors will get the most use out of our tools, although shorter-term investors might find them useful in playing the what-if game. 

We recommend that you not focus so much on the best-case performance, or even the average-case performance of the stock market when you're deciding what long-term investment decisions to make.  Instead, we suggest that you focus upon our worst-case scenarios when shaping your investing strategies - that way, you can be pretty well ensured that you will reach your investment goals even if you have the Lemony Snicket touch!