Long-term investors in equities are always facedwith uncertainty. In the 1970s, investors hadto weather the ’73–’74 bear market, geopoliticalturmoil culminating in the Iranian hostage crisis,rampant inflation, and skyrocketing energyprices. In the 1980s, investors were faced withBlack Monday, the Iran-Contra scandal, anassassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, andthe S&L crisis. In the 1990s, investors experienceda euphoric bull market, the repercussionsfrom the collapse of Long-Term Capital, theAsian currency crisis, and the Russian default.Throughout the 2000s, investors dealt withthe bursting of the tech bubble, an economicrecession, geopolitical turmoil in the MiddleEast, myriad natural disasters, corporate scandals,rising energy prices, and the sub-primemortgage crisis.Clearly, the past 40 years have dealt long-termequity investors their share of uncertainty.But through it all, the long-term upward progressof the stock market has not been derailed,as illustrated by the chart below. In fact, since1970, the S&P 500® Index has increased over4,860%, which would have compounded ahypothetical $10,000 initial investment intoover $495,973, an almost fifty-fold increase.3As Christopher C. Davis, Davis Advisors PortfolioManager, once remarked, “Building longtermwealth is like driving an automobile. If younarrowly focus on the stretch of road a few feetin front of your car, you risk making unnecessaryadjustments and oversteering. Only when you
lift your eyes to focus further down the highway
will you successfully reach your destination.”
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