There's a difference between understanding markets and understanding yourself in markets.
You can read about portfolio theory, asset allocation, inflation cycles and monetary policy. That knowledge matters. But it won't tell you how to behave when your portfolio falls 20 per cent in a month.
The real education comes from living through it. From experiencing uncertainty that you can't read about in advance. From learning what your convictions are worth when they're tested.
Six and a half years of tests
We're more than halfway through the 2020s now, and it's been an unusual stretch. If you've been investing during this period, you've navigated something closer to crisis-per-year than history suggests. Most investors expect major shocks every decade or so. The years since 2020 haven't followed that pattern.
March 2020: The pandemic shuts down the global economy. Markets fall 34 per cent in 32 days. The worst of it is over in under a month. Most people don't recognise it then.
February to October 2022: Russia invades Ukraine. Global inflation hits 40-year highs. The rate hike cycle begins. Markets enter a bear market in June. This one lasted months. It was uncomfortable.
September 2022: Liz Truss's mini-budget in the UK triggers a gilt market crisis. Pension funds nearly collapse. Another shock. Another recovery.
March 2023: Silicon Valley Bank, Signature and Credit Suisse all collapse within weeks. Everyone's talking about a 2008-style banking crisis. It doesn't happen. Markets move on.
October 2023: Hamas-Israel war begins. Significant, serious, horrifying. Markets absorb it.
August 2024: The yen carry trade unwinds. The Nikkei has its worst day since 1987. Global markets follow. A few days of sharp moves. Then recovery.
January 2025: Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek triggers a global tech sell-off. Nvidia loses $589 billion in a single day. The largest single-day loss in market history. Within weeks, that narrative completely reverses.
April 2025: US President Donald Trump's “Liberation Day” tariffs trigger a 12 per cent S&P 500 decline in seven days. Another shock. Markets eventually price it in.
March 2026: The US-Iran conflict closes the Strait of Hormuz. Markets fall around 10 per cent from recent highs. By mid-July, the conflict remains active, with the US continuing strikes overnight. We're still living in this one.
That's nine significant events in six years. Not including the smaller shocks and corrections that filled the gaps between them.
What the numbers actually show
The interesting part isn't the list of events itself. It's what happened to the underlying economics while everyone was worried about the headlines.
In 2019, before the decade took its turns, the S&P 500 was trading at 3,231. By April 2026, it had reached 7,209. That's more than a doubling of value. More than 120 per cent total return.
But here's what matters: why did that happen? The earnings of those underlying companies grew dramatically.
In 2019, the companies in that index earned approximately $139 per share collectively. By 2025, that figure had grown to about $253 per share. Nearly doubled. The actual profit-generating capacity of the businesses – not the sentiment around them, but the actual cashflows – grew substantially.
This matters. It means price appreciation wasn't divorced from economic reality. The companies people own through diversified portfolios got materially better at making money, even while navigating nine separate crises and countless smaller disruptions.
Timing and truth
Every single one of those nine events felt urgent when it happened. That worry wasn't irrational. But timing your response based on feelings in the moment is different from making decisions based on your long-term circumstances. At the time each crisis hit, nobody knew how it would resolve. But they did.
When a crisis occurs, the relevant question isn't “should I be worried?” It's “does this change what I actually believe will happen over the long term?” Most of the time, the answer is 'no'.
What separates patient investors from reactive ones
I've observed two patterns over 20 years. Some investors treat news like a constant instruction to adjust holdings. Others treat it as background information that might occasionally matter but mostly doesn't.
If you've remained invested through these past six years, through nine meaningful market disruptions, you've acquired something that can't be taught in a classroom. You've learnt what your own resolve looks like when tested. You've learnt that you can live through genuine uncertainty and emerge better off.
That experience – not luck, but actual learning – is the foundation for whatever comes next.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal or financial advice and is provided for your information only. Readers should seek appropriate independent legal and financial advice from a regulated professional
