The stock market has given investors plenty of reasons to sell over the past four years. CNBC’s Jim Cramer said those who resisted temptation reaped the rewards.
Since bottoming out on October 12, 2022, S&P500 The stock has soared about 118%, overcoming the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes, a banking crisis, massive tariffs, and the Iran war. The bull market began amid widespread inflation and economic pessimism, but neither setback could derail it.
“The real lesson is that there is never a good time to invest, because bad things happen regularly. Still, investing is a great way to make money,” the “Mad Money” host said.
Big profits were made.
Cramer said a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 at its October 2022 bottom would be worth nearly $23,061 today. Some of the market’s biggest winners have made even bigger profits. Nvidia It’s up about 1,875% over this period, turning your $10,000 investment into about $197,505. $10,000 investment meta platform With the stock up 488%, the stock would have ballooned to more than $58,800. Cramer’s Charitable Trust, a portfolio managed by CNBC’s investment club, owns shares in Nvidia and Meta.
For Kramer, the bigger payoff isn’t choosing the next market leader. It’s important to continue investing amid uncertainty, rather than trying to time recessions and recoveries.
“We didn’t expect a huge drop or a huge recovery,” Kramer said. “We could have turned our asses off many times over the last four years, and we would have been even poorer for it.”
In his Sunday column for investment club members, Kramer shared more about why he always stays in the market. Club analyst Zeb Fima wrote a follow-up article on Monday using an investment calculator where you can enter your own numbers to demonstrate the power of compound interest.
The cost of missing out on market gains can be significant.
According to JPMorgan, an investor who invested $10,000 in the S&P 500 index and missed out on the 10 best trading days from 2005 to 2024 would have ended up with less than half the wealth of someone who kept the entire investment.
“Hold back, keep buying, don’t lose faith,” Kramer said. “These are the lessons from this unyielding four-year bull market.”
