How Much Income Can I Expect to Receive From Safe Investments?

Safe Investments Produce Some Investment Income: But It Varies From Year to Year

What kind of investment returns, or approximately how much investment income, would you expect to receive from safe investments? It depends on the year.

In 1981 a safe investment (such as a certificate of deposit) yielded 17.2%. For every $100,000 you had invested, you would have received $17,200 in interest income.

In 2003 that same investment yielded 1.2%, or $1,200 of interest income, per year, on every $100,000 invested.

If you retired in 1981, and only invested in safe, interest bearing accounts, you would have found it difficult to maintain your standard of living, as inflation would have caused prices to rise while your investment income from safe investments would have steadily declined.

Below is a table that shows you the amount of interest income you would have received each year since 1973 for every $100,000 invested in short term certificates of deposit.

After looking at the table you will also want to see how these returns, and other safe investment returns, compare to alternatives like bond and stock funds by looking at rolling returns.

*Returns data in table below from Dimensional Funds Advisors, using their Returns software program.

Safe Investment Returns*