Each article compares the long term performance of two investment sectors, such as Australian Shares, International Shares, Listed Property, Direct Property or Fixed Interest, or financial indicators, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE), 90 day Bank Bill rates or 10 year Bond rates.

This article compares the investment performance of diversified portfolios of Australian Shares and Fixed Interest securities over the 43 years from 31 December 1965, when suitable data for the various investment sectors first became available, to 31 December 2008. The article is an update of a similar article published five and a half years ago. The Fixed Interest portfolio is primarily invested in government bonds and contains no international securities.

Let's examine what happened if $10,000 was invested at the start of the period, assuming that all investment income (i.e. dividends and interest income) was reinvested back in each sector, as occurs with some managed investments. Both portfolios are revalued monthly based on market values.

The following chart plots the results for the 43 year period. The chart has been prepared using a logarithmic scale designed to show proportional increases and decreases in values (rather than changes in the values in dollar terms). The ratio of the Australian Share portfolio accumulated results as a percentage of the Fixed Interest accumulated results is also shown. From 31 December 2002 the value of the Australian Share portfolio increased steadily each year until it reached $2,136,000 at 31 December 2007; then it fell to $1,333,000 one year later.