Believe It or Not: Stocks go Up AND Down

There seems to be a lot of shock out in the world that markets are down as if people have forgotten stocks don’t go only straight up but also go down. I certainly understand it from younger investors who have really never been through a bear market / recession before, but I’m surprised to see so many more experienced people also caught off guard.

The reality is out of the 97 years from 1926 through 2022, the U.S. stock market was up 71 of those and down the other 26 years. That means, on average, stocks lost money in 1 of every 4 years. Continue reading “Believe It or Not: Stocks go Up AND Down”

First Trust: Stocks and Bonds Falling Together: What Happens Next?

Today I received a chart from First Trust with very interesting information.

The chart shows all the quarters since 1976 where stocks and bonds declined together and then provides forward return data for the subsequent 6 months, 1 year, 3 years after each event.

I’ll share the chart below then point out a couple things I find noteworthy. Click on the chart to expand…

Continue reading “First Trust: Stocks and Bonds Falling Together: What Happens Next?”