Here are the statistics showing the impact of missing the market's best days over a 20-year period:
Staying Invested: An initial $10,000 investment would grow to $64,844, with an annualized return of approximately 9.5%. ** Note: this is just an average return. Many people with advisors don't even achieve this.
Missing the 10 Best Days: The final value drops significantly to $29,708, and the annualized return falls to 5.3%.
Missing the 30 Best Days: The investment grows only to $13,710, with an annualized return of just 1.6%.
Missing the 40 Best Days: This results in a net loss, with the final value dropping to $9,414 and a negative annualized return of -0.3%.