There have been numerous article recently on the performance of the FTSE over the last decade

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/ftse100/6913344/FTSE-100s-recent-rally-fails-to-make-up-for-a-lost-decade.html

with only a few commenting on the effect that dividends have on returns

http://business.scotsman.com/economics/Dividends-help-investments-pay-off.5951967.jp

The FTSE 100 sans dividends is down 22% over the period

whereas if we included dividends, we would get a return of around 8%

This is still pretty poor compared to the (very approx) 45% you would've got if you had invested at the base rate

this emphasizes the point that to achieve returns in excess of risk free, one must take a risk. The longer the investment, the less chance of being underwater at maturity, but that risk will always be there.