Investors Who Held On Since 2008 Made Right Move

Past performance is no guarantee of future results, as the saying goes. But a new Fidelity Investments analysis of what’s happened to retirement investors’ portfolios since the 2008-2009 market crash is worth considering if you’re tempted to pull money off the table during the market’s current volatility.

The big message: Investors who held on tight through the harrowing 2008-2009 crash have been richly rewarded since then.

Fidelity looked at the performance of 7.1 million 401(k) accounts, comparing returns for investors who made changes to their portfolios during the 2008-2009 market crash up through June 30 this year—a point when the market was on an upswing preceding the steep drops and volatility that began in late July.

The key findings:

• Participants who changed their equity allocations to zero percent between Oct. 1, 2008, and Mar. 31, 2009 and stayed out of stocks through June 30 this year saw an average increase in account balance of only 2 percent.
  
• Participants who exited stocks but then returned to some level of equity allocation after that market decline saw average account balance increases of 25 percent.
  
• Investors who stuck it out with a continuous asset allocation strategy that included stocks had an average account balance increase of 50 percent.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44204393