If your returns aren't beating 11% a year, you're getting poorer. Global liquidity grows about 8% a year. That's the money supply expanding, and it means the value of the cash in your pocket falls by roughly that much every year. Add maybe 3% of normal inflation on top and you get to an 11% hurdle. Most people think if they've beaten inflation they're fine. They haven't. Inflation and debasement aren't the same thing. Inflation is your money losing value against goods... rent, groceries, fuel. Debasement is your money losing value against assets... property, stocks, the things that actually build wealth. You have to clear both. This is the real reason the rich get richer and everyone else falls behind. One side owns the assets. The other side is holding a melting ice cube.(Raoul Pal)