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The FTSE 100 index has loved an actual renaissance over the past three years. Many Footsie shares derided as ‘dinosaurs’ not that way back have come roaring again into trend.
To present a flavour, contemplate the distinctive three-year efficiency of this basket of 10 blue chips:
- Anglo American: +77.2%
- Barclays: +182.5%
- British American Tobacco: +83.2%
- BT: +53.9%
- Worldwide Consolidated Airline: +148.2%
- Lloyds: +112%
- Marks & Spencer: +91.2%
- NatWest: +118.3%
- Tesco: +63.5%
- Vodafone: +29.1%
Word, these returns don’t even embody dividends! The Footsie’s three-year whole return is a really wholesome 47.35%.
Clearly then, the blue-chip index has been a profitable place to purchase shares not too long ago (albeit not each share has performed nicely).
However what about over a 10-year interval? How a lot would somebody have as we speak if that they had invested 5 grand within the UK’s blue-chip index a decade in the past?
Would our investor have doubled their cash?
In accordance with investing platform AJ Bell, the FTSE 100’s 10-year annualised whole return (which incorporates reinvested dividends) is 9.39%. Which means £5,000 would have become roughly £12,265 (excluding platform charges).
Due to this fact, this investor would have comfortably doubled their cash. In distinction, holding cash in a Money ISA over this era would have misplaced cash in actual phrases as a consequence of inflation.
This demonstrates the wealth-creating energy of the inventory market.
May have been increased
Nearly as good as this result’s, it’s price noting that that is simply the index’s return. You possibly can make investments on this by way of an index tracker just like the Vanguard FTSE 100 ETF (LSE:VUKG).
Nonetheless, had somebody invested their 5 grand in 5 particular person FTSE 100 shares, they might have performed rather a lot higher. As a result of many well-known shares have crushed the market common over this time interval, as we noticed with the three-year returns above.
There are a number of the explanation why the FTSE 100 has soared previously couple of years. These embody:
- Rotation into cheaper worth shares
- A commodities supercycle benefitting mining and power shares
- Engaging excessive dividend yields
- Some institutional buyers diversifying away from US equities
- Outdated-economy UK corporations being resistant to AI disruption (ie, heavy belongings, low obsolescence)
- Falling rates of interest
- Large share buybacks
What in regards to the subsequent 10 years?
Wanting forward, I’m fairly bullish on the FTSE 100. A whole lot of the most important constituents look set to profit from AI somewhat than be disrupted by it.
For instance, pharma giants like AstraZeneca and GSK can use the expertise for drug discovery, rising the possibilities that drug candidates can be profitable in scientific trials. They need to additionally use AI to chop prices and increase margins, as may supermarkets, miners, and banks.
After all, if any of these developments above reversed (increased rates of interest, for instance), then the ETF would probably underperform. So there’s no assure the index will produce near-10% returns over the subsequent decade.
Nonetheless, the Vanguard ETF above is an accumulating one, which means it reinvests dividends alongside the best way. And the index’s beginning yield as we speak is respectable, at 3.05%, whereas the valuation continues to be low-cost.
Due to this fact, I feel a FTSE 100 tracker is price contemplating shopping for for the subsequent 10 years.

