| | Mueller: Can Financial Assets Beat Social Security? Not in the Real World. |
 | | Yet average real returns on financial assets since 1926 were higher -- about 7% for a portfolio of common stocks, and about 5% for a mix of common stocks and corporate bonds, compared with 3% real economic growth. |
 | | The argument is typically reinforced by comparing the average real return on the stock market since the end of 1925 (about 7%), or on a mix of stocks and bonds (4% to 5%), with the average real rate of economic growth (about 3% in the past, but possibly lower in the future). |
 | | Since we wish to compare this return with the risks and real returns of financial investments from 1926 to 1996, we need to find out the average growth rate of the economy (adjusted by the same price index), as well as its volatility, during the same period. |
| www.ourfuture.org /issues_and_campaigns/socialsecurity/key_issues/privatization/readarticle59.cfm (6570 words) |