Market Risk? Think Again, It's a $14 Million Mistake

Hi, I am Mr. Idiot and I help people visualize their 'Financial Future' to inspire them for baby steps.

Introduction : The market's been a bit bumpy lately, and everyone's talking about how "risky" stocks are. So, I got curious and did some digging, comparing long-term stock market returns to those "safer" bonds. Honestly, the findings surprised me! It really made me think about how we manage our investments. Turns out, sticking too much with what feels "safe" might actually be costing us a lot of potential growth. Let's take a closer look at your investment plan together – you might be missing out on way more than you think!

Visualization Created for Julie & Caroline: Two friends, Julie and Caroline. Both started investing way back in 1986. Julie, now 65, has always played it safe, sticking to things like CDs and bonds. Caroline, on the other hand, decided to take a chance on the stock market. It's really interesting to see how their choices have played out over all those years. Let's take a peek and see how their investments look today!

Comparison: The following calculation is derived from the average lifetime performance of Vanguard Total Bond market funds and FOCPX.

I hope this was helpful for you to visualize it . Pay attention to your investment strategy as it costs millions.

Call To Action : Open a Brokerage account and start investing small amount consistently

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Thank you and keep building your legacy through Generational Wealth! Take care and don't forget to enjoy the journey and take care of your health.

Note : Please note that the calculations are estimates based on certain assumptions, such as variable annual returns. This blog post is intended to illustrate the potential long-term benefits of consistent saving and investing, not to provide specific financial advice. The information presented on this blog, including any visualizations or projections based on average historical data, should not be considered financial advice. Investing involves inherent risks, and the value of investments can fluctuate significantly.

Okay, so to figure out how Julie and Caroline's investments turned out, I used some real numbers. For Julie's safe investments (like bonds), I looked at the overall, long-term returns of the VBTLX fund. For Caroline's stock market investments, I used the yearly returns of the FOCPX fund, starting all the way back in 1986. Basically, we're using real-world performance to see how their different approaches stacked up! $14 Mn for Caroline vs $662K for Julie.