Since Q2 2009, the most common of stock trading strategies – passive “long-only” i.e. just buy the S&P 500, would have delivered 348% or a 15.2% CAGR with dividends reinvested and without transactions costs or management fees (Source: https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/)

But with the S&P 500 at or near a new all-time high, is the risk still weighted in your favour?  Perhaps, if you can hold 20-30 years.  But what about the next few years?

If you had held the S&P 500 from January 2008 until January 2009, the S&P 500 delivered a -35.6% return with dividends reinvested and without transactions costs or management fees (Source: https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/)

The man in who made the quotation in the picture above is Larry Hite.