The research firm, Dalbar, studies the actual returns that average investors have earned compared to average market returns. The results rarely change. Investors, even if they attempt to diversify by spreading money across different global asset classes, poorly time their buy and sell decisions hurting their return on investment.
Source: Dalbar, Inc.; JP Morgan.
REITs are Real Estate Investment Trusts. EAFE stands for Europe, Australasia and Far East (international developed markets stocks). The average asset allocation investor return is based on an analysis by Dalbar Inc. which utilizes the net of aggregate mutual fund sales, redemptions and exchanges each month as a measure of investor behavior.
It is times like we are experiencing now, where risk of making new investments into rising markets is growing, that average investors often struggle.
