I believe the last 10 years have actually been less than average for the SP500 over the period that FIRECALC uses (starting in 1871). Here's a calculator you can play with that shows this. If you plug in the last ten years (or 1/2003 - 12/2012), you get an annualized return of about 7% and an inflation adjusted annualized return of about 4.5%. For the entire period, the values are 8.9% and 6.7%
Fred123,
Thanks for the link, I just ran 10 year cycles back to 1872. Not as detailed as what FIRECalc uses since just 14 different cycles, but it shows that the most recent 10 years is one of the worst, it was 12 out of 14. Best was 1952-1962, second was 1982-1992. Still begs the question, is the last 10 years one of the best for investors or one of the worst?