The FTSE 100 was up about 6.5% last year and if you add in the dividends received you’d have made about 10%, which is quite a reasonable annual return. This does however mask the wild ride underneath and doesn’t really show the full colour of the investment world within.
That reasonably placid 10% return hides that the best FTSE 100 stock was up nearly 100% – NatWest (Royal Bank of Scotland, as was). Whilst the worst performer (Ocado) was down nearly 60%. It really proves the point that diversification is a great long term strategy, just without the wild ride (sometimes).
Talk to your adviser to see how your investment is diversified.