You might want to report that to Vanguard then, because it literally shows it's yield since inception as 7.15% https://imgur.com/a/mGCNpiW

1. The average return of VTSAX since it's inception is 7.15%, idk where you got 11.5 from.

2. I'm about the same age and you are assuming we will be lucky enough to match the greatest bull runs of human history. It's far more likely our parents just had better investment opportunities than we will ever have access to.

3. The needs of a 64 yo who started investing a while ago and a 64 yo who started investing last year will still be the same. A 20% hit would affect both the exact same. Monetary needs are forward moving.

How do you 'not touch the principle' when the investment falls almost 20%? There are no gains to sell off. There's nothing but a fraction of the principle you had a year ago.

Retirement age people 100% in VTSAX would've lost 19.53% last year. That's... not ideal with the amount of capital they should have saved by that point. They may no longer be in a position to just 'wait it out'. Holding the position at that age without guaranteed income is pretty risky.

I can't... [raspberry] understand... [raspberry] your accent. [raspberry]