[bigtunacan]

I'm sure some investors lost during that time and others made well over 10% during the same time periods.

I've always invested and paid minimums to student loans and mortgage. I also locked in student loans and mortgage at very low rates, plus the effective interest rate is lowered by the tax advantage.

I've been investing in low fee index funds, because I'm not a stock broker, since 2002 and I have averaged about 14% growth year over year. That is much higher than I expected, but even at a modest 6 or 7% annual growth I would still be well ahead of paying off my student loans and mortgage. I never carry a balance on higher interest forms of debt such as credit cards.