Segal Rogerscasey: Despite poor decade, equities still vital to investor portfolios

In its August edition of Investment Focus, Segal Rogerscasey argues that even though stocks have posted poor annualized returns over the past decade (2.9% for the S&P 500 index), equities remain a vital component of long-term investment portfolios. Despite the risk associated with equities' volatility, the S&P 500 index has posted a negative return in just 18 of 304 rolling 10-year periods dating back to the 1930s. Declines greater than 250 basis points have occurred only five times during that period.