This is the U.S. stock market over the last 140 years, adjusted for inflation:
Do you know what happened during this period?
- 1.3 million Americans died while fighting nine major wars.
- Four U.S. presidents were assassinated.
- 675,000 Americans died in a single year from a flu pandemic.
- 30 separate natural disasters killed at least 400 Americans each
- 33 recessions lasted a cumulative 48 years.
- The stock market fell more than 10% from a recent high at least 97 times.
- Stocks lost a third of their value at least 12 times.
- Annual inflation exceeded 7% in 20 separate years.
- The words “economic pessimism” appeared in newspapers at least 29,000 times, according to Google.
And the market still increased 10,000-fold.
So, I suspect we’ll be OK.
Patience will be constantly tested but ultimately rewarded — as it always has been.