Alice in Wonderland

During the 20th Century, the Dow advanced from 66 to 11,497… For investors to merely match that 5.3% market-value gain [today], the Dow – recently below 13,000 – would need to close at about 2,000,000 on December 31, 2099… If your adviser talks to you about double-digit returns from equities, explain this math to him – not that it will faze him. Many helpers are apparently direct descendants of the queen in Alice in Wonderland, who said: “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”