Looking back, the first 2 months of 2009 began as a continuation of 2008 with the broad markets dropping about 26%. However, from early March 2009 to the end of the year, the market shot up over 65%. According to Yahoo Finance, the total return of the S&P 500 in 2009 was over 22%.

From October 2007 until March 2009, the S&P 500 fell about 55%. Someone who absorbed this loss has to earn over 122% just to get even. So by the end of 2009, this investor recovered less than half of their total losses. This confirms the importance of downside protection.

As 2010 gets underway, our live Corinthian Market Update will be in our conference room on Feb 16th at 5:30 PM and Feb 18th at 10:30 AM. We will be discussing 2009, and looking ahead through 2010. Our focus will be avoiding large losses while trying to recover from 2008. Also, Roth IRAs will be discussed as we are getting a lot of questions regarding IRA conversions. Friends are welcome. Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP as space is limited.