The most often cited average annual return for stocks (using return data dating from 1926) is 10 percent per year. How reasonable is it to use these historic returns as goals for retirement investors?

I might not be a lobbyist or a politician, but I do know a little bit about history.

They came in with the dour expression of having the weight of the world on their shoulders. They left with a smile on their face and a skip in their step.

The problem with using volatility to define risk takes me back to my teenage years and my war with literary interpretation.