Stock-Market-Guarantee

So, the "fact" of the superiority of stocks over bonds is not a fact at all. The public has not learned a fundamental truth. Instead, their attention has shifted away from some fundamental truths. They seem not to be so attentive to at least one genuine fundamental truth about stocks: that they are residual claims on corporate cash flow, available to stockholders only after everyone else has been paid. Stocks are, therefore, by their definition, risky. Investors have also lost sight of another truth: that no one is guaranteeing that stocks will do well. There is no welfare plan for people who lose in the stock market.

(from: Irrational Exuberance)