While U.S. large-cap stocks finished markedly higher for 2021, it wasn’t necessarily a smooth ride. As evidenced by some of the headlines in Figure 1, investors had no shortage of reasons to worry about future potential returns and consider exiting the market.

However, once again, 2021 provided us all some lessons about how trying to time the market is unlikely to leave us better off than just staying the course. Figure 4 offers a few additional statistics surrounding S&P 500 Index returns for the year.

Data from 1/1/2021 – 12/31/2021. Source: Bloomberg and Avantis Investors. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.