Stretch that to 30 years and the most popular benchmark index in the world has seen a total return of over 1,177 percent despite multiple recessions and market crashes. There is a clear lesson from the chart above: Stocks generally go up, especially when you zoom out.

Key Takeaways Analysts at Goldman Sachs on Monday forecast the S&P 500's average annual return over the last decade of 13% will shrink to just 3% in the next 10 years.The index's extreme concentration,

Goldman Sachs ( GS) strategists led by David Kostin estimate that the S&P 500 index will deliver an annualized return of 3% over the next decade — well below the 13% returns in the last 10 years and the long-term average of 11%.