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	<title>Comments on: Five Simple Questions, Five Simple Answers</title>
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	<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/</link>
	<description>Simple, applicable personal finance advice for the modern world</description>
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		<title>By: MofBroold</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-754267</link>
		<dc:creator>MofBroold</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:59:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-754267</guid>
		<description>Hello I&#039;m just only going to post to make a post on this web site and wanted to say hi.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hello I&#8217;m just only going to post to make a post on this web site and wanted to say hi.</p>
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		<title>By: AnnaNoble</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-685866</link>
		<dc:creator>AnnaNoble</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:33:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-685866</guid>
		<description>I found the best thing to my boyfriend&#039;s birthday… It&#039;s really hard to find cool and still unique. 
So today I saw this thing from ZTARLET on facebook where you can name a real star in the sky and have the certificate and a teddy bear sent to you and pay it by a single SMS. So awesome :)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I found the best thing to my boyfriend&#8217;s birthday… It&#8217;s really hard to find cool and still unique.<br />
So today I saw this thing from ZTARLET on facebook where you can name a real star in the sky and have the certificate and a teddy bear sent to you and pay it by a single SMS. So awesome :)</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>By: maryfergussonn</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-668945</link>
		<dc:creator>maryfergussonn</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 14:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-668945</guid>
		<description>Just saying hello to you all .. Still a bit confused about the goings on here, but I guess I&#039;ll keep poking around.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just saying hello to you all .. Still a bit confused about the goings on here, but I guess I&#8217;ll keep poking around.</p>
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		<title>By: DaveCahonne</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-562072</link>
		<dc:creator>DaveCahonne</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:24:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-562072</guid>
		<description>Never underestimate the power of the internet. An increasing number of people use the internet
to search for a business or service so having a web presence is an important media for promoting
your company. Web design is a real skill and if your website is to not only look good but work well,
it should be constructed by a professional web designer.

If you are interested, you can contact me: hqwebdesign (AT) gmail (DOT) com</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Never underestimate the power of the internet. An increasing number of people use the internet<br />
to search for a business or service so having a web presence is an important media for promoting<br />
your company. Web design is a real skill and if your website is to not only look good but work well,<br />
it should be constructed by a professional web designer.</p>
<p>If you are interested, you can contact me: hqwebdesign (AT) gmail (DOT) com</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>By: MinhDinh</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-510247</link>
		<dc:creator>MinhDinh</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:46:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-510247</guid>
		<description>i need help sorting this out....very upset.. i&#039;m actually crying now and i don;t really cry ever. i have never asked for this type of help before, but I really need your advice.

i have suspected for some time now that my girlfriend has been cheating on me. the usual signs: phone rings but if i answer, the caller hangs up very fast. my gf has been going out with &#039;the girls&#039; a lot recently although when i ask their names she always says, just some friends from work, you don&#039;t know them.&#039;

i try to stay awake and look out for her when she comes home, but I
usually fall asleep. Anyway, I have never broached the subject with my
gf. i think deep down i just did not want to know the truth, but last
night she went out again and i decided to finally check on her.

around midnight, i hid in the garage behind my rs125 so i could get
a good view of the whole area when she arrived home from a night out
with &#039;the girls.&#039;

when she got out of the car she was buttoning up her blouse, which was open, and she took her panties out of her purse and slipped them on. It was at this moment, crouching behind my rs125, that i noticed a
hairline crack on the left side fairing.

is this something i can fix it myself or should i take it back to the aprilia centre?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>i need help sorting this out&#8230;.very upset.. i&#8217;m actually crying now and i don;t really cry ever. i have never asked for this type of help before, but I really need your advice.</p>
<p>i have suspected for some time now that my girlfriend has been cheating on me. the usual signs: phone rings but if i answer, the caller hangs up very fast. my gf has been going out with &#8216;the girls&#8217; a lot recently although when i ask their names she always says, just some friends from work, you don&#8217;t know them.&#8217;</p>
<p>i try to stay awake and look out for her when she comes home, but I<br />
usually fall asleep. Anyway, I have never broached the subject with my<br />
gf. i think deep down i just did not want to know the truth, but last<br />
night she went out again and i decided to finally check on her.</p>
<p>around midnight, i hid in the garage behind my rs125 so i could get<br />
a good view of the whole area when she arrived home from a night out<br />
with &#8216;the girls.&#8217;</p>
<p>when she got out of the car she was buttoning up her blouse, which was open, and she took her panties out of her purse and slipped them on. It was at this moment, crouching behind my rs125, that i noticed a<br />
hairline crack on the left side fairing.</p>
<p>is this something i can fix it myself or should i take it back to the aprilia centre?</p>
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		<title>By: lenkaalech</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-508337</link>
		<dc:creator>lenkaalech</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:02:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-508337</guid>
		<description>I think the girl&#039;s name is Cinderella, but i haven&#039;t found any info about her. 
She either might have changed her name or she is out of the biz. 

This clip is worth the download. 
If you like skinny girls...this is the one! 
Enjoy......

link: http://depositfiles.com/en/files/0q1liua5f</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I think the girl&#8217;s name is Cinderella, but i haven&#8217;t found any info about her.<br />
She either might have changed her name or she is out of the biz. </p>
<p>This clip is worth the download.<br />
If you like skinny girls&#8230;this is the one!<br />
Enjoy&#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p>link: <a href="http://depositfiles.com/en/files/0q1liua5f" rel="nofollow">http://depositfiles.com/en/files/0q1liua5f</a></p>
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		<title>By: MossySF</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16984</link>
		<dc:creator>MossySF</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:52:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16984</guid>
		<description>Bogle does say this -- people lose a big portion of  their returns to:
(1) expenses
(2) market timing.

So to take advantage of this trend, you can do two things:

(1) overweight in the insurance + mutual fund sector. If people are going to spend 5.75% on front-end loads and 1.5% on expense ratios, let some of that go to your pocket.

(2) Do the opposite of what your parents do. :) If they get the investing mania and start putting money into X, immediately get out and perhaps even short their positions.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Bogle does say this &#8212; people lose a big portion of  their returns to:<br />
(1) expenses<br />
(2) market timing.</p>
<p>So to take advantage of this trend, you can do two things:</p>
<p>(1) overweight in the insurance + mutual fund sector. If people are going to spend 5.75% on front-end loads and 1.5% on expense ratios, let some of that go to your pocket.</p>
<p>(2) Do the opposite of what your parents do. :) If they get the investing mania and start putting money into X, immediately get out and perhaps even short their positions.</p>
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		<title>By: lorax</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16958</link>
		<dc:creator>lorax</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:06:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16958</guid>
		<description>Ok, that&#039;s a mess.  Hopefully Trent will clean it up!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ok, that&#8217;s a mess.  Hopefully Trent will clean it up!</p>
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		<title>By: lorax</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16957</link>
		<dc:creator>lorax</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:05:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16957</guid>
		<description>@eRock

[I tried posting this a couple times, but it seems links aren&#039;t allowed, try googling &quot;bogle market returns 77 site:brill.com&quot; and pick the only link, it has an interview with Bogle]

I did a quick google and came up with an &#039;06 interview at
www.brill.com
but you might find lots more if you troll though the posts on diehards.com.

He wrote this in his books.  I think the last one I read was either _Common Sense on Mutual Funds_ or _Bogle on Investing_.

Bogle will be the first to tell you that it&#039;s really impossible to call either the short or intermediate term returns.  In one of his books he details his attempt to call the 90s market based on fundamentals.  He was very close until the internet bubble.

Unfortunately, forecasting with precision is not something that the market lends itself to.   But... very many economists agree that returns will be lower, long term, most using different approaches (PE10, future dividend returns, PE1, etc...).</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@eRock</p>
<p>[I tried posting this a couple times, but it seems links aren't allowed, try googling "bogle market returns 77 site:brill.com" and pick the only link, it has an interview with Bogle]</p>
<p>I did a quick google and came up with an &#8217;06 interview at<br />
<a href="http://www.brill.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.brill.com</a><br />
but you might find lots more if you troll though the posts on diehards.com.</p>
<p>He wrote this in his books.  I think the last one I read was either _Common Sense on Mutual Funds_ or _Bogle on Investing_.</p>
<p>Bogle will be the first to tell you that it&#8217;s really impossible to call either the short or intermediate term returns.  In one of his books he details his attempt to call the 90s market based on fundamentals.  He was very close until the internet bubble.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, forecasting with precision is not something that the market lends itself to.   But&#8230; very many economists agree that returns will be lower, long term, most using different approaches (PE10, future dividend returns, PE1, etc&#8230;).</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: lorax</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16953</link>
		<dc:creator>lorax</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:01:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16953</guid>
		<description>@eRock

I did a quick google and came up with:
http:// www.brill.com/bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1163384579
but you might find lots more if you troll though the posts on diehards.com.

He wrote this in his books.  I think the last one I read was either _Common Sense on Mutual Funds_ or _Bogle on Investing_.

Bogle will be the first to tell you that it&#039;s really impossible to call either the short or intermediate term returns.  In one of his books he details his attempt to call the 90s market based on fundamentals.  He was very close until the internet bubble.

Unfortunately, forecasting with precision is not something that the market lends itself to.   But... very many economists agree that returns will be lower, long term, most using different approaches (PE10, future dividend returns, PE1, etc...).</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@eRock</p>
<p>I did a quick google and came up with:<br />
http:// <a href="http://www.brill.com/bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1163384579" rel="nofollow">http://www.brill.com/bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1163384579</a><br />
but you might find lots more if you troll though the posts on diehards.com.</p>
<p>He wrote this in his books.  I think the last one I read was either _Common Sense on Mutual Funds_ or _Bogle on Investing_.</p>
<p>Bogle will be the first to tell you that it&#8217;s really impossible to call either the short or intermediate term returns.  In one of his books he details his attempt to call the 90s market based on fundamentals.  He was very close until the internet bubble.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, forecasting with precision is not something that the market lends itself to.   But&#8230; very many economists agree that returns will be lower, long term, most using different approaches (PE10, future dividend returns, PE1, etc&#8230;).</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: lorax</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16952</link>
		<dc:creator>lorax</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16952</guid>
		<description>@eRock

I did a quick google and came up with:
http://www.brill.com/bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1163384579
but you might find lots more if you troll though the posts on diehards.com.

He wrote this in his books.  I think the last one I read was either _Common Sense on Mutual Funds_ or _Bogle on Investing_.

Bogle will be the first to tell you that it&#039;s really impossible to call either the short or intermediate term returns.  In one of his books he details his attempt to call the 90s market based on fundamentals.  He was very close until the internet bubble.

Unfortunately, forecasting with precision is not something that the market lends itself to.   But... very many economists agree that returns will be lower, long term, most using different approaches (PE10, future dividend returns, PE1, etc...).</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@eRock</p>
<p>I did a quick google and came up with:<br />
<a href="http://www.brill.com/bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1163384579" rel="nofollow">http://www.brill.com/bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1163384579</a><br />
but you might find lots more if you troll though the posts on diehards.com.</p>
<p>He wrote this in his books.  I think the last one I read was either _Common Sense on Mutual Funds_ or _Bogle on Investing_.</p>
<p>Bogle will be the first to tell you that it&#8217;s really impossible to call either the short or intermediate term returns.  In one of his books he details his attempt to call the 90s market based on fundamentals.  He was very close until the internet bubble.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, forecasting with precision is not something that the market lends itself to.   But&#8230; very many economists agree that returns will be lower, long term, most using different approaches (PE10, future dividend returns, PE1, etc&#8230;).</p>
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		<title>By: Trent</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16752</link>
		<dc:creator>Trent</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:30:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16752</guid>
		<description>Laura: you can calculate it however you wish, but a negative net worth is a great motivator to keep your finances very fit.  Since I view net worth as just being a motivation tool anyway... you get the idea.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Laura: you can calculate it however you wish, but a negative net worth is a great motivator to keep your finances very fit.  Since I view net worth as just being a motivation tool anyway&#8230; you get the idea.</p>
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		<title>By: laura k</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16748</link>
		<dc:creator>laura k</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:26:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16748</guid>
		<description>Hi Trent,

I have been debating about whether or not to include my home&#039;s value in my net worth calculation.  If you do not include your home&#039;s value on the &quot;plus&quot; side of the calculation, what do you include on the &quot;minus&quot; side? Is it just the amount due on your mortgage that month? Otherwise, if you&#039;re including the full amount of your mortgage, it somehow seems uneven. For example: 

Ex. 1 (including home&#039;s value in net worth calculation [&quot;the old way&quot;]):

Assets
Home value: $300,000

Liabilities
Home mortgage: $210,000

Net worth (assuming all else balances out): $90000

Ex. 2 (not including home&#039;s value, but including full balance of mortgage:

Assets are whatever they are

Liabilities
Home mortgage: $210,000

Net worth (assuming all else balances out): -$210,000 (YIKES!)

Ex.3 (including only what&#039;s due on the mortgage that month): 

Assets are whatever they are

Liabilities
Home mortgage (monthly pmt): $1400

Net worth (assuming all else balances out): -$1400 

The 3rd example still yields a negative net worth, but it&#039;s nowhere near as frightening as being $210,000 in the hole (even if it&#039;s just on paper). It also feels more realistic than Ex. 1, which, as you imply, is only the perception of being ahead of the game, since it&#039;s unlikely that you&#039;ll be able to sell your house &quot;on a whim.&quot;

Can you (or anyone else) see any flaws in the logic of using the 3rd example to calculate net worth?

thanks!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi Trent,</p>
<p>I have been debating about whether or not to include my home&#8217;s value in my net worth calculation.  If you do not include your home&#8217;s value on the &#8220;plus&#8221; side of the calculation, what do you include on the &#8220;minus&#8221; side? Is it just the amount due on your mortgage that month? Otherwise, if you&#8217;re including the full amount of your mortgage, it somehow seems uneven. For example: </p>
<p>Ex. 1 (including home&#8217;s value in net worth calculation ["the old way"]):</p>
<p>Assets<br />
Home value: $300,000</p>
<p>Liabilities<br />
Home mortgage: $210,000</p>
<p>Net worth (assuming all else balances out): $90000</p>
<p>Ex. 2 (not including home&#8217;s value, but including full balance of mortgage:</p>
<p>Assets are whatever they are</p>
<p>Liabilities<br />
Home mortgage: $210,000</p>
<p>Net worth (assuming all else balances out): -$210,000 (YIKES!)</p>
<p>Ex.3 (including only what&#8217;s due on the mortgage that month): </p>
<p>Assets are whatever they are</p>
<p>Liabilities<br />
Home mortgage (monthly pmt): $1400</p>
<p>Net worth (assuming all else balances out): -$1400 </p>
<p>The 3rd example still yields a negative net worth, but it&#8217;s nowhere near as frightening as being $210,000 in the hole (even if it&#8217;s just on paper). It also feels more realistic than Ex. 1, which, as you imply, is only the perception of being ahead of the game, since it&#8217;s unlikely that you&#8217;ll be able to sell your house &#8220;on a whim.&#8221;</p>
<p>Can you (or anyone else) see any flaws in the logic of using the 3rd example to calculate net worth?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
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		<title>By: eR0CK</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16737</link>
		<dc:creator>eR0CK</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Apr 2007 14:24:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16737</guid>
		<description>@lorax

Do you have a link to Bogle stating that he feels S&amp;P500 will not see a 10% average?  Over coming years, do you mean 1, 2, 5, 100?

I&#039;m almost done The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing and I haven&#039;t read anything anywhere that confirms your statement.  Of course, this book is written by Bogle fans, but if Bogle subscribes to the same information you&#039;ve posted, I&#039;m wondering why they neglected to mention such a important topic.

Lastly, I can&#039;t picture Bogle predicting the future ....</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@lorax</p>
<p>Do you have a link to Bogle stating that he feels S&amp;P500 will not see a 10% average?  Over coming years, do you mean 1, 2, 5, 100?</p>
<p>I&#8217;m almost done The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing and I haven&#8217;t read anything anywhere that confirms your statement.  Of course, this book is written by Bogle fans, but if Bogle subscribes to the same information you&#8217;ve posted, I&#8217;m wondering why they neglected to mention such a important topic.</p>
<p>Lastly, I can&#8217;t picture Bogle predicting the future &#8230;.</p>
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		<title>By: lorax</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16602</link>
		<dc:creator>lorax</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:17:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16602</guid>
		<description>10% yield...

I&#039;ll try not to make a big deal about it, but most economists believe that the S&amp;P 500 won&#039;t return 10% in the coming years.  Their methods differ, but even Bogle expects only highish single digits.

It boils down to this - market fundamentals require that that return of a market should be the % increase in earnings + % discounted future yield.  If we go back to the 1920s, that&#039;s 6% + 4%.  Current yield is 1.7% and yield earnings aren&#039;t expected to rise.

That&#039;s not to say that the market won&#039;t accept these new return terms via a &quot;goodwill&quot; if it deems US stocks to be less risky.  After all, it&#039;s still more than bonds.  Or it could mean that there will be a correction to the point where the yield is at the 4% level again.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>10% yield&#8230;</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll try not to make a big deal about it, but most economists believe that the S&amp;P 500 won&#8217;t return 10% in the coming years.  Their methods differ, but even Bogle expects only highish single digits.</p>
<p>It boils down to this &#8211; market fundamentals require that that return of a market should be the % increase in earnings + % discounted future yield.  If we go back to the 1920s, that&#8217;s 6% + 4%.  Current yield is 1.7% and yield earnings aren&#8217;t expected to rise.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s not to say that the market won&#8217;t accept these new return terms via a &#8220;goodwill&#8221; if it deems US stocks to be less risky.  After all, it&#8217;s still more than bonds.  Or it could mean that there will be a correction to the point where the yield is at the 4% level again.</p>
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		<title>By: MossySF</title>
		<link>http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/comment-page-1/#comment-16584</link>
		<dc:creator>MossySF</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Apr 2007 19:23:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/08/five-simple-questions-five-simple-answers/#comment-16584</guid>
		<description>Further explanation about the 10% number. When talking investments, one always uses annualized return which is a geometric mean, not an arithmetic mean. Let me give an example of an arithmetic mean:

(10% + 10% + 10% + 10% + 10%) / 5 = 10%
(0% + 20% + 10% + 5% + 15%) / 5 = 10%

The math is pretty simple for arithmetic mean -- add together and then divide by the total count. However, the two do not produce the same geometric mean. The formula for geometric means show the following:

(1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1) ^ (1/5) = 1.1 ==&gt; 10%
(1.0 * 1.2 * 1.1 * 1.05 * 1.15) ^ (1/15) = 1.0977 ==&gt; 9.77%

In either calculation, it does not matter what order the losses and gains happen. So if a mutual fund reports a 2 year annualized gain of 10% and the first year was 0%, the 2nd year was 21% (1.1^2/1.0=1.21) -- not 20%. What this means is in a volatile investment with a long-term gain, the gains are far larger than losses. 

Because the order does not matter for a long-term investment, the calculations for estimating returns give the same number whether you use 10% a year or 0%+21%+.....+n%.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Further explanation about the 10% number. When talking investments, one always uses annualized return which is a geometric mean, not an arithmetic mean. Let me give an example of an arithmetic mean:</p>
<p>(10% + 10% + 10% + 10% + 10%) / 5 = 10%<br />
(0% + 20% + 10% + 5% + 15%) / 5 = 10%</p>
<p>The math is pretty simple for arithmetic mean &#8212; add together and then divide by the total count. However, the two do not produce the same geometric mean. The formula for geometric means show the following:</p>
<p>(1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1) ^ (1/5) = 1.1 ==&gt; 10%<br />
(1.0 * 1.2 * 1.1 * 1.05 * 1.15) ^ (1/15) = 1.0977 ==&gt; 9.77%</p>
<p>In either calculation, it does not matter what order the losses and gains happen. So if a mutual fund reports a 2 year annualized gain of 10% and the first year was 0%, the 2nd year was 21% (1.1^2/1.0=1.21) &#8212; not 20%. What this means is in a volatile investment with a long-term gain, the gains are far larger than losses. </p>
<p>Because the order does not matter for a long-term investment, the calculations for estimating returns give the same number whether you use 10% a year or 0%+21%+&#8230;..+n%.</p>
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