Please point me to a good IRA online guide

ROI is return on investment. The higher the return the higher the risks. 30% is indeed very rare. I think on a long term basis, with a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, you should be able to see gains of 10% per year, give or take.

When you are talking about ROI for individual companies, you can research that from a number of sources. I would suggest the business section of your library.

The past long term (20 years or more) compound annual total return of the S&P 500 index has been shown to be around 10%. With long term treasury yields under 5%, a portfolio combination of the S&P 500 index with a significant portion of bonds will have an expected compound annual total return well under 10%.

The article

Thanks. I appreciate everyone's response. 10%? Ha? That's very low when I hear about 21% ROI on the average that Dave Ramsey keeps talking about. Am I missing something here?

The only way to get that kind of return without taking a huge HUGE risk is if you have a heap of debt on a very high interest credit card and you pay down that debt.

Perhaps you'll be more specific about where you heard about this absurdly high 21% ROI? At a glance at Ramsey's site, I found no mentions of it.

His site seems to be full of "come to my seminar" crap and an online store, but fairly prominently, there's a link which takes you to his "7 Baby Steps" page and that page seems rather reasonable:

1. 00 to start an emergency fund 2. pay off all debt (presumably, he means consumer debt - see below) 3. 3-6 months of expenses in a savings account 4. 15% of household income into Roth IRA and Pre-tax retirement accts 5. college funding for kids 6. pay off home early (suggesting that he doesn't include the mortgage in step 2 above) 7. build wealth and give - invest in mutual funds and real estate

Now, I might argue a bit with the order - if one has a decently low fixed mortgage rate, paying off the home very reasonably can be moved to last place. And even college funding can be pushed down - I don't think 15% is enough for retirement savings, and additional retirement savings should probably come before worrying about college costs, but these are really minor points and the overall picture is quite good - pay off debts, save, invest, and have a safety cushion.

The only part of that which could conceivably suggest a 21% ROI is paying credit cards with absurdly high interest rates.

But I'm open to correction - where exactly did you see this?

I have listened to Dave Ramsey's program on and off. I have heard him talked of 12% annual gains with a diversified portfolio. Risk adjusted that may be within a reasonable range. I have never heard him say anything about a 21% annual gain, long term.

Wow. Just wow. Someone's bought it -- the whole sh'bang. Hook line and sinker.