Originally Posted by
SailorRob
Here it is, reposted for you below.
As for the article he posted... Who was ever talking about investing a lump sum into the market at one time and then walking away? In this case of course you may not get average returns, unless you are investors for a very long time. While you guys can make many claims you cannot challenge the mathematical definition of average. We are talking about investing capital as you accumulate it and then reinvesting dividends which over any period of time will see you get the average return of the market...
Many markets globally are at the same levels now as they were in the year 2000 or late 90's. EVEN if you had invested a lump sum at the top 22 years ago, you would have still done ok with reinvesting dividends as you would be investing into the lows that followed. There are many calculators which can show you exactly what returns you would get depending on various factors.
Don't just read articles, think about things for yourselves and challenge everything.