STAY the Course!!! S+P 500 and my real yeild over past 10 years

[h2ogal]

Lots of us with lazy investing tactics have an S+P index fund.  The past year has been frustrating and I have been questioning my strategy.... it feels like I'm going nowhere fast.   

BUT today, when I looked back over the past 10 years I'm surprised at how well my lazy fund has done.     In 2007 I changed jobs, and left one of my old Fidelity 401k funds mostly dormant...no new $$ were added, no withdrawals or loans, and just a few re-balancing trades. This fund has been 80-100% in FUSEX, a Spartan Fidelity low fee S+P fund from 2007 til now.   Any dividends paid were also reinvested.  Here are my balances each year in December, again with almost NO activity:

Dec '06 - 92K
Dec '07 - 105K
Dec '08 - 74K (AHHHGH Crash!  Felt panic but did nothing)
Dec '09 - 99K
Dec '10 - 113K  (Remind me -- WHY were we so worried?)
Dec '11 - 113K
Dec '12 - 132K
Dec '13 - 164K
Dec '14 - 194K
Dec '15 - 200K

 Here is an article you may like: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/6-big-mistakes-you-can-make-benchmarking-to-the-sp-500-2014-09-08]]http://www.marketwatch.com/story/6-big-mistakes-you-can-make-benchmarking-to-the-sp-500-2014-09-08

[arebelspy]

A good reminder, thanks!

[Metric Mouse]

Thanks for the peek! This is super exciting. I think this is much more powerful than all of the 'look at my back-tested model portfolio I just made up' threads.

[acroy]

Amen!!

[slugline]

I hope everyone just starting can stick it out at least until that year when the annual gain exceeds contributions. It's a very affirming -- even magical -- moment on the financial journey to see that one is on a solid path.