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Remember the "Lost Decade"?

I ran across this link on today's edition of Ben Carlson's blog, "A Wealth of Common Sense". As a testament to diversification, it refers to the notion that "The Lost Decade" only refers to the returns of the S&P500.

Lost Decade

Comments

  • I remember those headlines. The headlines may be the worst when 10-yr rolling-returns are poor, but that would have been a great time to buy, or at least to hold on (for those who stuck with it up to that point. Below is a weekly StockCharts 1990- (as far as it goes) for $SPX (SP500) and ROC(520) (bottom panel) that is close to 10-yr cumulative rolling-returns; see the low point in 2009. Corollary - 2009 would have been the worst time to sell.

    Live link may default to 1-yr https://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$SPX&p=W&st=1990-01-01&id=p24824348520

    image
  • edited March 2023
    @PRESSmUP,

    Great find. Thanks. Preaching to the choir here as far as spreading risk around goes. Growing up in the 50s and early 60s, the Great Depression was still fairly recent and on everyone’s minds.Talk about “lost decades.” My parents had lived through it in their youth. So it took a leap of faith for most common folks back then to want to invest in anything riskier than a passbook saving account at a local bank - preferably one within walking distance.

    Clever allusions to Dickens’ works sprinkled throughout, including to ”Great Expectations”.

    image

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