total returns over the last 9 years

Today's (Mach 26) Wall Street Journal says the annualized total
percentage returns of various asset classes since March 1999 have been

 2.46   S&P 500
 7.18   Foreign country developed stocks
 7.68   U.S. Long-Term Treasury Bonds
 8.42   Inflation-Protected Treasury Bonds
11.92  U.S. Small Stocks
14.11  REITs
14.51  Gold
17.92  Commodities
19.38  Developing-Country Stocks

I think part of the reason for the poor performance of the S&P 500
since then is that it was priced too high. Financial planners need to
forecast future long-term returns based on current valuations rather
than just extrapolating the past long-term averages, which would
suggested a heavy stock weighting in March 1999. I'm not suggesting
avoiding large-cap stocks now. FWIW, I am bullish, especially relative
to Treasury bonds.

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