The Big Scary Myth Stalking the Stock Market
Are you worried that investing in today's technology-focused stock market is dangerous?Imagine a time machine, like Doc Brown's DeLorean in "Back to the Future, " that could transport us to the best possible times in history to invest. I don't know about you, but I would set the destination circuits to June 1, 1932. On that date, the S&P 500 had fallen 86.2% from its peak price in 1929.That way, I could earn some of the highest annualized long-term total returns ever recorded: roughly 12.3%, 15.1% and 16.1% over the ensuing 10, 20 and 25 years, respectively. A 16.1% annualized return over 25 years would turn $100,000 into nearly $4.2 million.I wouldn't thank Doc Brown's flux capacitor for my millions. Instead, I'd thank what many financial advisers and asset managers call a "dangerously overconcentrated" stock market.In the 1990s, brokers called index funds "tax bombs" that would supposedly hit investors with huge, unexpected tax bills. Then came warnings that index funds couldn't pro