Putnam Investments studied the performance of the S&P 500 over fifteen years, during which time the annualized return was 7.7 percent. They noted something amazing: During that fifteen-year period, if you missed the ten best days of investing (the days where the stock market gained the most points), your return would have dropped from 7.7 percent to 2.96 percent. And if you missed the thirty best days, your returns would have dropped to -2.47 percent—negative returns!
