Market index funds like Vanguard’s famous S&P500 fund and SPY “Spyder” on AMEX caught on in late 90’s, right when long bull market turned into a crazy bubble with a blowoff top in 2000.

There are very good reasons to use index funds – low expenses, failure of most active managers to beat indexes consistently and statistical trend that says stocks return an average of 11% per annum over long periods of time. A cheap route to a “sure” return in a world of unreliable fund managers and individual investors who couldn’t time market right if they had an Olympic chronometer and three judges - looks good, huh?

Just invest, forget about it and spend your time thinking about a comfy retirement. The S&P500 returned an annualized 17% per year from mid-1982 to mid-2000. Easy money with only a couple of dips on way.

Except – what happens to your portfolio if market indexes go nowhere for years on end?

The statistics say that over decades, 11% return will keep you safe. But what if you catch a couple of bad decades? Most of us didn’t get serious about putting money in market until our 30’s – and we planned to retire 20-25 years later. What does your retirement pot of gold look like when “usual return” falls behind and you run out of decades to catch up?

From mid-1997 to mid-2002 SPX was flat. From 1998 to 2003, SPX investors lost money. Ditto 1999-2004.

Break down expected 11% return into 5-year periods. An index investor expects to bring in 70% or more every five years, depending on how often gains are reinvested. The problem with compounding is how quickly you can fall behind. SPX investors who put in money from 1998-2001 didn’t make money.

Surely they can make that up later, right?

Don’t be so sure. A tax-free portfolio that starts with $100 and returns 11% annually should have $111 after one year, $123 after two, $136 after three years and $152 after four. Five years later it’s $168.

Think about leap – if you end up flat first three years, your portfolio has to rack up a 52% gain to get back on track by year four. Has SPX returned 50% in one year in our lifetimes? Not that I can find. Forget about a 68% banner year.

First of all, your mind imagines your wealth a whole lot faster than real world could ever possibly move. That's part of lesson, learning how to keep mind steady until manifesting has actually occurred. In end you're to realize how fast or slow event occurs is really in accordance with your own ability to hold your thoughts and some other subtler dynamics that we'll discuss later. Ultimately you're going to have to give world time to catch up with your wonderful daydreams of good life. Not every single one of us who's trying to manifest a rich abundant lifestyle for ourselves can win lottery. There isn't enough lottery money to go around! So be patient.

What about taking action? Have you actually started working at doing something? If you're sitting on couch watching television every night and stating your money hums during commercials, don't hold your breath. It's not coming. You have to take action and it has to be right action. The whole point of a flow of wealth is that it isn't dead end pooling into your bank account. It's moving through you and around you. Being in flow means that you are a participating member. You have to be putting out some sort of effort that warrants flow comes through you. Ask yourself honestly, are you giving something of value to market, to universe, to flow? If you aren't, then you better think of something worth giving that's equivalent to order that you placed while sitting on couch earlier. If you aren't putting out much, then don't expect to receive much. That's how life works.