But overall, aren't things better than they were like
6 years ago. I remember seeing the Dow at like 8,000
some time back.
Yeah but you need to compare that to other investments and take account for inflation.
It was 8000 around March 2003 - 5.55 years ago. In that time (using todays index) its risen 39%, work that back to an annual average and you have an annual of 6%.
Inflation in the US over the same period was 3% so you are only seeing a net gain of 3% in real terms, which for stocks & shares isnt so hot.
The trick to investment is to weigh up the risk & return - 6% may seem ok, but you've taken a risk of losing everything to get it. I don't know what US savings rates have been, but you can get 5% quite easily over here and that's almost risk free.
I'm more used to the FTSE than the Dow and today it stands at 5204. Just before Northern Rock (and the real start of all this crap in the UK) it was cruising around the 6300 mark - big loss when you consider that a year's growth is swallowed into that
