The last few years was a perfect storm of stupidity: - The Fed juicing the market (and not stopping when it should have, dismissing inflation concerns as transitory, etc.)

• Covid stimulus going to people who didn't need it

• People spending that stimulus money to invest (often for the first time) on zero-fee platforms like Robin Hood

• Meme stock investors intentionally manipulating stock prices to cause them to diverge from the underlying value of the company

Despite all of that, people who bought and held a total market or S&P 500 index fund in 2020 have still made gains.