Sure, ok. But even adjusting the S&P 500 for CPI inflation, it's near all time highs. And if we're going to be careful, you have to also take dividend reinvestment into account, which has the opposite effect of inflation. Neglecting dividend reinvestment will cause indices underestimate the true growth of a dollar.

Here's a quickly Googled source showing CPI-adjusted S&P 500: http://www.multpl.com/inflation-adjusted-s-p-500

Here's another quickly Googled source showing dividend-reinvested S&P 500 returns: http://www.indexologyblog.com/2013/08/08/inside-the-sp-500-d...

I wish I could find a decent source that incorporated both effects.