Vanguard total stock market index VTSMX 2012 low: 31.76 2012 high: 36.72 2016 low: 45.03 2016 high: 57.17 2016 high pre-election: 54.84 So the worst you possi

Vanguard total stock market index VTSMX 2012 low: 31.76 2012 high: 36.72 2016 low: 45.03 2016 high: 57.17 2016 high pre-election: 54.84 So the worst you possibly could have done between 2012 and 2016 was a 22.6% gain. Using more middling points of 36 and 50, you'd have gained almost 39%. Annualised (rounding up to 4 years) that's between 5 and 8.5%. The stock market has climbed at a steeper average rate since then, but "didn't gain anything to speak of" is misleading.