I guess you're just talking about the broad stock market, but since the last time we had a nice long sideways patch global investing has grown up quite a bit. Even just in mutual funds, an individual has a vast array of product to choose from, and plenty of sectors are 'going up' as we speak.
Say you bought this for a New Year's Resolution:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=ENPIX&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=%5EGSPC
/jordan