The ALL ORDINARIES (INDEX: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) was last above 6,000 points in January 2008.
All Ords
As can be seen above, since 2015, the Australian share market has been tiptoeing under 6,000 points — which, by the way, means nothing other being one point above 5,999.
Will the All Ords hit 6,000?
The question of how the market — or "All Ords" — is doing, when it will reach 6,000 points, 7,000 points, or 10,000 points seems to come up quite often in the mainstream press.
To be frank, though, no-one knows when the All Ordinaries will reach 6,000 or any number for that matter. The best answer I could think of is: sometime.
As you can see from the chart above, "the market" will rise and fall. This is the result of share ownership in companies, like BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), transferring in-and-out of people's investment portfolios.
Saying the market will reach 6,000 points sometime is a safe — and smart — way to answer the question because, historically, the sharemarket has gone upwards over the long-term.
In fact, since 1970, the Australian share market has returned 9.9% per year on average, according to Vanguard.
Why?
Well, in addition to inflation — which is the yearly increase in the cost of everyday goods — businesses benefit from other increases in the prices of products, lower costs from efficiencies, new technologies and innovation.
That's not to mention the risk associated with entrusting companies to invest your money. As we know, shares are riskier than term deposits and, by extension, we demand a better return for taking on the 'risk'.
But, that 'risk' is not risk as we would define it. It comes from academics, who say 'risk' is the regular but random ups and downs of share prices. As you and I know that's not risk.
And with a long-term investment horizon, that 'risk' almost disappears. So, long term share market investors get the normal return plus an extra bit for the added 'risk'.
Foolish Takeaway
I couldn't tell you where the ALL ORDINARIES or the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is going tomorrow let alone by the end of the year. However, the further we go into the future the more I believe it can go above and beyond 6,000 points sometime.
