Yes, but that's because you cherry-picked the decade with the lowest return. Over the past 50 years, the average return on investment for 10 year periods has b

Yes, but that's because you cherry-picked the decade with the lowest return. Over the past 50 years, the average return on investment for 10 year periods has been [1] 1956 - 1966 9.21% 1957 - 1967 12.81% 1958 - 1968 9.91% 1959 - 1969 7.74% 1960 - 1970 8.08% 1961 - 1971 6.97% 1962 - 1972 9.83% 1963 - 1973 5.97% 1964 - 1974 1.29% 1965 - 1975 3.31% 1966 - 1976 6.66% 1967 - 1977 3.65% 1968 - 1978 3.24% 1969 - 1979 5.92% 1970 - 1980 8.50% 1971 - 1981 6.55% 1972 - 1982 6.70% 1973 - 1983 10.56% 1974 - 1984 14.61% 1975 - 1985 14.12% 1976 - 1986 13.62% 1977 - 1987 15.09% 1978 - 1988 16.13% 1979 - 1989 17.34% 1980 - 1990 13.80% 1981 - 1991 17.41% 1982 - 1992 16.08% 1983 - 1993 14.85% 1984 - 1994 14.32% 1985 - 1995 14.83% 1986 - 1996 15.23% 1987 - 1997 17.90% 1988 - 1998 19.04% 1989 - 1999 18.05% 1990 - 2000 17.30% 1991 - 2001 12.81% 1992 - 2002 9.26% 1993 - 2003 10.96% 1994 - 2004 11.95% 1995 - 2005 8.98% 1996 - 2006 8.33% 1997 - 2007 5.84% 1998 - 2008 -1.36% 1999 - 2009 -0.95% 2000 - 2010 1.38% 2001 - 2011 2.88% 2002 - 2012 7.03% 2003 - 2013 7.34% 2004 - 2014 7.61% 2005 - 2015 7.25% So yes, you historically could just invest money in the stock market and get rich, and you will probably continue to be able to do so. [1] http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/histretSP.html http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/...