[zz865]

> and take advantage of long term compounding.

Yeah that is what I mean, what happens when the stock market drops 75% over 25 years? Not much compounding happening. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/%5EN225?p=%5EN225

[anonporridge]

That index is up over 25 years. You'd be even better off if you were buying during the bear periods. AND you're not including dividend reinvestment.

A quick check here, https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio, with JPXN between 2002-2021 investing a static amount monthly and reinvesting dividends suggests you would have doubled your money over the period.

Bad compared to US growth to be sure. You're right that Japan is a great example of how this strategy doesn't work as well for people locked in to stagnating economies.

[chii]

> You're right that Japan is a great example of how this strategy doesn't work as well for people locked in to stagnating economies.

that's why you don't invest in a single region. A globally diversified portfolio (which, to be fair, is more difficult to achieve for people in some nations that's not the west) is what's required to get the market returns.

[burntoutfire]

> That index is up over 25 years. You'd be even better off if you were buying during the bear periods. AND you're not including dividend reinvestment.

You, on the other hand, are not including inflation...

[zz865]

Yeah I meant 1989 to 2012. FTSE10 is flat from 1999 to 2021 as well.