Can it happen again?
It seems momentous things happen in years ending in seven. Well, at least in the last 50 years starting with the “summer of love” in 1967 and the introduction of the Chevrolet Camaro. But after that, it was downhill with Elvis leaving the building in 1977, the 1987 share market crash, the Asian crisis of 1997 and the GFC that started in 2007. While Lehman Brothers didn’t go bankrupt until September 2008, the GFC’s initial tremors occurred in 2007. Financial markets really started to take notice in August of that year, with shares taking a big hit before rebounding to new highs for US and Australian shares in October/November 2007 ahead of a roughly 55% decline into March 2009. This note looks at the main lessons for investors from the GFC and whether it can happen again.