Average 10 year return on investments (taken from tiaa-cref as of 2/29/08 Performance of Mutual Funds and In-Plan Annuities | TIAA):
World/Global Equities: 4.51%
US Stocks: 4.80%
Money Market: 3.62%
Bond Market: 5.78%
Real Estate: 9.73% (this includes the recent down-turn, last year, 10 year figures were at around 12.35%)
But, again, I do say diversify and use a balanced approach to investing. And all the ‘liquid’ cash is nice to have, but realistically, even in an interest bearing checking or savings account you aren’t getting more than a 2-3% return, you might as well put it under the mattress.