30-year Rolling Stock Market Returns

The largest factor for successfully accumulating wealth for retirement by investing in the stock market is the accident of when you were born. If you turn retirement age after a great 30-year run of stock market gains, you stand a better chance of funding your retirement. Workers who planned to retire in 2009, on the other hand, “picked” a poor year to be born. Their stock portfolios fell 30 percent, 40 percent or more at the very end of their careers.

The table below shows that if you were fortunate enough to be born in 1940 and turned retirement age in 2005, the last 30 years of your career saw the market gain 1,015 percent. But, if you were born just three years later in 1943 and retired in 2008, the market gained only 530 percent over the three decades before you retired.

If you were born in 1925 and retired in 1990, you saw the stock market gain only 256 percent over 30 years. Talking about being born under a bad sign!

Rolling 30-Year Investment Returns

30-Year Period	Average Annual Market Gain	After Inflation %	Total 30-yr Gain
1975-2005	13.1 %	8.4 %	1015 %
1974-2004	11.9 %	6.9 %	636 %
1950-1980	11.2 %	6.6 %	580 %
1978-2008	10.6 %	6.3 %	530 %
1954-1984	10.3 %	5.5 %	404 %
1952-1982	9.9 %	5.4 %	384 %
1956-1986	9.5 %	4.6 %	284 %
1960-1990	9.5 %	4.3 %	256 %