Finance
The Bull Market Almost No One Saw Coming
Taking risk into account, the 2010s were an even better decade for stocks than they seemed.
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Hedge your holdings. Stay defensive. Figure out a risk tolerance and don’t buy anything that keeps you up at night. All the investment advice at the tail end of the financial crisis came with a huge dollop of caution.
So at the start of the century’s troubled teens, who would’ve predicted U.S. stocks would not only lock themselves into the longest bull market ever, they’d also do better than they ever had before? But that’s exactly what happened. Adjusted for risk—or, more precisely, the volatility stock investors had to bear—gains in the S&P 500 index since Dec. 31, 2009, are poised to be the highest of any decade since at least the 1950s.