Stocks Performance

Updated October 2006

Investing in shares is ordinarily considered more risky that putting your cash into the gilt market or the building society. Anybody who had money in the equity market between 2000 and 2003 will know all about the risks associated with the bear market and the negative returns that shares were producing.

However, over the long term, the story could well be different. Had great great aunt Agatha had the nous to invest £100 in the stockmarket in 1899 and leave the dividend income to be reinvested, you could now be looking at a pot of funds worth £1,340,324! In real terms that sum shrinks to just £22,426. Both those figures dwarf the alternative returns on offer from gilts and cash.

So, where have been the places to put your hard earned cash in the last couple of decades? The past is no guide to the future, but it's nevertheless interesting to bear in mind what investment returns have looked like.

The table below shows that in just five of the last 20 years have shares offered a negative return and in only seven of the last 20 years have the returns on offer from equities been beaten by other asset classes. Percentage gains or losses are shown for investing in shares, gilts and cash deposits.

See also:

Did you know you can buy and sell shares through the Moneyextra website?