Most people would agree that an 8% return on your money over 16 years is a raw deal. That is what the S&P 500 returned over a 16 year period starting in 1966 and ending in 1982 – the last really long drought in the stock market.
Looking at a shorter period within that drought, we can see a prolonged bear market that started in January of 1973. The highs of that first month were not permanently surpassed until September 1982. That is over 9 ½ years.
Posted by Arnbjorn Ingimundarson 
