Stocks: the Long View

"By yearend," Warren Buffet writes in his Chairman's Report 2008, "investors of all stripes were bloodied and confused, much as if they were small birds that had strayed into a badminton game."

Two months later, investors feel more like a tennis ball that was just served at 130 mph by Andy Murray and returned by Rafa Nadal. "Ouch!" "Ouch!"

To distract clients from the bruises of the day, investment advisers can draw upon the long-term perspectives found in the Credit Suisse Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2009. One of the contributors is professor Elroy Dimson, previously mentioned here. A sample: