In effect, investors are using availability heuristic to make decisions and subsequently, may be obstructing their own investment success. An investors lingering perceptions of a dire market environment may be causing them to view investment opportunities through an overly negative lens, making it less appealing to consider taking on investment risk, no matter how small the returns on perceived "safe" investments. To illustrate, Franklin Templetons annual Global Investor Sentiment Survey 1 asked individuals how they believed the S&P 500 Index performed in 2009, 2010 and 2011. 66 percent of respondents stated that they believed the market was either flat or down in 2009, 48 percent said the same about 2010 and 53 percent also said the same about 2011. In reality, the S&P 500 saw 26.5 percent annual returns in 2009, 15.1 percent annual returns in 2010 and 2.1 percent annual returns in 2011, meaning lingering perceptions based on dramatic, painful events are impacting decision-making even when those events are over.

Question: How many different years did the Franklin annual Global Investor Sentiment Survey 1 asked individuals how they believed the S&P 500 Index performed?
Answer: 3

Question: Which year had the least percentage that believed the market was either flat or down, 2009 or 2010?
Answer: 2010

Question: Which year had the highest percentage of returns, 2011 or 2009?
Answer: 2009

Question: How many more percentage of the annual returns in 2009 than 2100?
Answer: 13

Question: How many percent more of respondents said the market was flat in 2009 than in 2011?
Answer: 13

Question: Which years did more than 50 percent of respondents think the market was flat?
Answer: 2009

Question: Which year had the highest actual returns?
Answer: 2009

Question: How many percent higher were annual returns in 2009 than in 2011?
Answer: 24.4