--- title: Here's How Much Money You'd Have if You Bought Stocks When the Market Hit Bottom 14 Years Ago description: The S&P 500 hit its financial crisis low 14 years ago. Here's how much money investors would have made buying stocks at the market low. authors: - name: Mallika Mitra role: Contributing Editor url: https://money.com/author/mallika-mitra/ bio: Mallika Mitra is a contributing editor for Money, based in Chicago. She has covered investing and retirement for seven years and her work has appeared in CNBC, Bloomberg, Kiplinger, AARP, Barron’s, Bankrate, The Daily Upside, ETF.com, The Bond Buyer, PLANADVISER, PLANSPONSOR and Investopedia. education: Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY Kalamazoo College at_money_since: 2020 articles: 395 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - CNBC - Bloomberg - Kiplinger - Barron's - Bankrate - WGN-TV - CBS News Radio - This Morning With Gordon Deal - Everyone's Talkin' Money social: - https://twitter.com/mitra_mallika - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallika-mitra-4577a386/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-03-09T17:21:48.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:21:59.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News - stocks word_count: 440 canonical: https://money.com/stock-market-financial-crisis-low-anniversary/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Stock exchange market](https://img.money.com/2023/03/News-SP-Investment.jpg) Fourteen years ago, the [stock market](https://money.com/how-to-buy-stocks/) hit its lowest point in the financial crisis. A look back offers investors a lesson about why it's so important to [avoid panic-selling](https://money.com/stock-market-correction-rebound/) and to keep your money in the market for the long haul. Since that low at closing on March 9, 2009, the [S&P 500](https://money.com/how-to-invest-in-sp500/) has rallied 490% as of Wednesday's close, strategists at Bespoke Investment Group wrote in a note to clients Thursday morning. That's an annualized return of 13.5% without including dividends, the strategists said. In other words, a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 during that low in 2009 would be worth roughly $59,000 now, not including dividends. "Obviously, returns will look remarkable when you measure them from the absolute low, but what may be even more notable is to look at how an investor would have fared had they gone 'all-in' at the highs in October 2007 right before all hell broke loose," the strategists wrote. ## What the data says Even if you measure from before the absolute low, you see that investors would have reaped significant gains had they [stayed in the market](https://money.com/why-keep-investing-when-stocks-down/). - If you had started investing in the S&P 500 on Oct. 9, 2007 (before the plummet), you'd have been down 50% and on your way to a total decline of 57% just over a year later — but by now you'd be up 155%. That's a 6.3% annualized and again, not including dividends, which means a $10,000 investment at that time would be worth roughly $25,500 without those dividends. - J.P. Morgan Asset Management's 2023 [Guide to Retirement](https://am.jpmorgan.com/us/en/asset-management/adv/insights/retirement-insights/guide-to-retirement/) released this week also shows the benefits of staying invested in the market: $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 from Jan. 1, 2003, to Dec. 30, 2022, would be worth $64,844 now. But that drops to $29,708 if the investor missed the market's 10 best days, according to the report. ## Money's advice "Things weren’t looking good for the market or the global economy back then," the Bespoke strategists wrote of 2009. But investors who stayed invested through the tough times are now sitting on significant gains compared to those who panicked and pulled their money out of the stock market during a low. - [Financial advisors](https://money.com/how-to-choose-a-financial-advisor/) tend to recommend a long-term, buy and hold strategy when it comes to investing, as timing the market is extremely hard (even for the professionals on Wall Street). - [Dollar-cost averaging](https://money.com/what-is-dollar-cost-averaging/) is a common approach, which entails investing a set amount of money at regular intervals, like $100 every month. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-financial-crisis-low-anniversary/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Stock Market", "item": "https://money.com/stock-market/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here's How Much Money You'd Have if You Bought Stocks When the Market Hit Bottom 14 Years Ago" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-financial-crisis-low-anniversary/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/stock-market-financial-crisis-low-anniversary/", "name": "Here's How Much Money You'd Have if You Bought Stocks When the Market Hit Bottom 14 Years Ago", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-03-09T17:21:48.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-financial-crisis-low-anniversary/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-financial-crisis-low-anniversary/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:21:59.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Here's How Much Money You'd Have if You Bought Stocks When the Market Hit Bottom 14 Years Ago", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/03/News-SP-Investment.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-S&P-Investment" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mallika Mitra", "url": "https://money.com/author/mallika-mitra/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mallika-mitra/#author", "description": "Mallika Mitra is a contributing editor for Money, based in Chicago. She has covered investing and retirement for seven years and her work has appeared in CNBC, Bloomberg, Kiplinger, AARP, Barron’s, Bankrate, The Daily Upside, ETF.com, The Bond Buyer, PLANADVISER, PLANSPONSOR and Investopedia.\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2020/05/Headshot.png?w=640&h=640&crop=1", "email": "mallikaamitra@gmail.com", "jobTitle": "Contributing Editor", "alumniOf": "Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY Kalamazoo College", "subjectOf": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://cnbc.com", "name": "CNBC" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://bloomberg.com", "name": "Bloomberg" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://kiplinger.com", "name": "Kiplinger" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://barrons.com", "name": "Barron's" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://bankrate.com", "name": "Bankrate" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://wgntv.com/midday-news/your-money-matters-why-is-crypto-so-popular/", "name": "WGN-TV" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wall-street-journal-travel-editor-scott-mccartney/id1500053390?i=1000505352440", "name": "CBS News Radio" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://thismorningwithgordondeal.com/b/Lots-of-People-Think-NFTs-Are-Cryptocurrency-and-Theyre-Wrong/306379835851553325.html", "name": "This Morning With Gordon Deal" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-invest-in-a-recession/id957163760?i=1000596422109", "name": "Everyone's Talkin' Money" } ], "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/mitra_mallika", "https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallika-mitra-4577a386/" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2023-03-09T17:21:48.000Z", "description": "The S&P 500 hit its financial crisis low 14 years ago. Here's how much money investors would have made buying stocks at the market low.", "abstract": "The S&P 500 hit its financial crisis low 14 years ago. Here's how much money investors would have made buying stocks at the market low.", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-financial-crisis-low-anniversary/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:21:59.000Z", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "wordCount": 440, "keywords": [ "News", "stocks" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Political economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_economy" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Stock market", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Investment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment" ] } ] } ] } ```