Staying Invested: Missing The Best Days

Staying Invested: Missing The Best Days

May 04, 2026
  • Staying invested is a key principle of long-term financial success.
  • This chart shows the impact of missing the best market days over the past 25 years.
  • Staying invested through ups and downs can make a significant difference in final investment outcomes
  • This chart shows the value of an initial investment of $1,000 using S&P 500 price returns before transaction costs under varying scenarios. Each scenario assumes that $1,000 was invested 25 years ago and remained fully invested or was moved to cash during the best market days.
    Date Range: 25 years ago to present
    Source: Clearnomics, Standard & Poor's