2023 setup for a good year overall

Even still, the good times more than make up for those occasional bad years. The average annual gain in the stock market over that period was 9.1%. And more important, consecutive losing years didn't happen often.

In fact, they've only happened twice (including one run of three losing years) since 1950. You can see it in the chart below...

Stocks dropped two years in a row in 1973 and 1974. And they dropped for three straight years during the dot-com bust.

As you can see above, stocks tend to end up higher the year after a loss. That has happened 83% of the time... And the average gain increased from 9.1% to 15.3%.

Even better, the four largest annual gains since 1950 each happened after a losing year. Take a look...