What historical data does firecalc use for stocks and bonds?

[badger6225]

Firecalc says it has data going back to 1871. What returns does it use?

 

[REWahoo]

See the "Total Market" option on the Your Portfolio tab. All historical returns are US based.

 

[badger6225]

But what specific data is being used? I can’t find it on the site anywhere.

The S&P 500 and DJIA don’t go back that far for equities. For fixed income, maybe treasuries?

 

[braumeister]

I would assume it's the same data Shiller uses. You can look at it yourself. See here.

Stock market data used in my book, Irrational Exuberance [Princeton University Press 2000, Broadway Books 2001, 2nd ed., 2005] are available for download, U.S. Stock Markets 1871-Present and CAPE Ratio. This data set consists of monthly stock price, dividends, and earnings data and the consumer price index (to allow conversion to real values), all starting January 1871.

 

[REWahoo]

I would assume it's the same data Shiller uses.

Correct.

 

[badger6225]

Does anyone have more info on the returns used for bonds? The data from Schiller refers to the long interest rate and commercial paper for the period 1871 to 1953. The 30 year treasury only started in 1925 according to firecalc, so what exactly are long interest rate and commercial paper referring to?