The 10 days since 2000 that have made investors the most money
Staying invested during volatile markets would have made a £25,000 difference
George Nixon, Senior Money Reporter
Thursday April 02 2026, 6.00am BST, The Times
Missing ten crucial days in the global stock market since 2000 would have cost investors nearly £25,000, analysis has revealed.
A £10,000 investment made in January 2000 in a fund that followed the MSCI World index, which features more than 1,300 large and mid-cap listed companies, would have grown to £56,891 — a return of 469 per cent, according to the research firm Morningstar.
But missing out on the index’s ten best days would have cut the return to 227 per cent and turned £10,000 into £32,703.
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Experts said the analysis showed the perils of investors trying to time the market and made the case for staying invested. Indeed many of the best days came during times of stock market volatility and global crises.
The biggest rise in the MSCI World index since the turn of the century came on March 13, 2020, when it rose 7.1 per cent as global governments and central banks pledged help amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It came after several days of heavy falls in global stock markets.
In fact four of the ten best days since 2000 came during March and April 2020 amid the pandemic, while another three came at the height of the global financial crisis in September and October 2008.
One came on April 9, 2025, when the index rose 6.5 per cent after President Trump announced a U-turn on proposed global trade tariffs, while only one of the ten came during what seemed like a good period for investors, on March 31, 2000, when the MSCI World index rose 6.8 per cent at the peak of the dotcom bubble.
Jason Hollands from the wealth manager Evelyn Partners said: “A disproportionate share of long-term gains are typically delivered by a relatively small number of very strong trading days. Conversely, some of the sharpest declines are also clustered into brief periods.
“Periods of heightened volatility provide a clear illustration of this dynamic. It is often during these turbulent phases that markets experience both their sharpest falls and their strongest rebounds — sometimes within a day of each other. This reflects, in part, the behaviour of investors and traders seeking to ‘buy the dip’, which can quickly drive prices higher after a sell-off.”
Hollands suggested this had lessons for investors worried about the latest bout of stock market turmoil triggered by the outbreak of war in the Middle East at the end of February. The MSCI World is down 5.7 per cent since the start of the year but there has been a huge amount of volatility in stock markets in response to public statements over whether the US and Israel would seek either an escalation of war against Iran or an end to the conflict.
“Volatile markets can scare people off investing altogether but such periods do come along from time to time,” he said. “One way to cope with this is to invest on a regular cadence, such as on a monthly direct debit. Not only does this help smooth out some of the impact of volatility, it is a great discipline that keeps you going through both difficult times and good times which helps remove the emotions that can drive decisions.”
The Times’s Smarter with Money campaign is aiming to create a million more investors. Instead of leaving their money languishing in poorly paying accounts, savers could take advantage of the stock market, where returns are historically higher than cash over the long term.
The Barclays Equity Gilt Study uses records dating back to 1899 to analyse the returns from different asset types. It found that stocks grew an average of 1.8 per cent a year, adjusted for inflation, in the ten years to the end of 2024, and 2.9 per cent a year over 20 years — a period that included the pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis. Cash savings, meanwhile, suffered real-terms losses of 2.9 per cent a year over a decade and 1.8 per cent a year over 20 years.
But investors who take a more hands-on approach to their portfolios are recommended to ensure that they are diversified. Seven US tech companies — Google’s owner Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta (which owns Facebook), Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — make up 22 per cent of the MSCI World index.
“Investors need to pay close attention not only to the level of risk they are taking overall but also to the type of companies they hold within their portfolios,” said Charlie Newsome from the wealth manager Rathbones.
“Maintaining an appropriate balance between growth [companies expected to perform well in the future] and value [good companies which are cheaper because growth prospects are more limited] is crucial. A diversified mix helps smooth returns across different market environments, reduces the impact of valuation swings and improves the resilience of a portfolio through economic cycles.”
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