Don’t fear stock market all-time highs

As we reach the end of autumn, let’s look back on a momentous event that occurred 70 years ago this fall — the 1929 stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression. After that crash, stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average did not return to their earlier 1929 levels until 1954; that’s more than 25 years from peak to peak. Of course, the numbers don’t include dividends, which were much higher back then, but the point remains that there can be long droughts when stocks meander and don’t post higher highs. These days, we’re looking at a stock market that has hit more than 20 new highs in 2019 alone. Should we be worried? One of the hardest parts of investing in the stock market is that there is always something to worry about. This is true even when things are going well, as they are now with markets at or near all-time highs depending on the day. A worry that we hear among some of our clients is that markets are “due” for a return to normalcy and that it doesn’t make sense to get in the market near all-time highs. Here’s a quick history lesson to