From January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2019, being out of the market dramatically impacted total return on your investments. We have no idea when the best days will occur, but missing the 20 best days in this ten year period cost an investor a whopping 50%.
Yes, but what about the COVID crash of 2020? Let’s assume an investor decided to go completely to cash at the end of 2019, thus avoiding the drastic sell off of February and March. It is highly unlikely the same investor got back in last Spring during the depths of the pandemic. The returns on stocks through last week are seen here.