Today, 3/24/25, marks the 25th anniversary of the S&P 500’s peak during the Nasdaq Dot Com Bubble—a moment I recall well. A couple of years out of school as a District Leader, I watched pharmacists plan early retirements, riding the amazing 1982-2000 stock bull run. The internet boom drove tech stocks higher and higher, and emotions also ran high. Then, the internet/tech stocks led the bust on this day in 2000. The S&P 500 fell ~50% by October 2002, and the Nasdaq by ~80%.

Yet, while the Nasdaq plunged 50% by year-end 2000, what I found interesting is that money shifted out of tech to other areas as the median US stock actually rose nearly 10% during that time. Investors who kept earning, saving, and investing through it all benefited from the markets rising for the next few years afterwards.

Market history has always fascinated me. Some see rhymes today—AI, concentrated rallies, high valuations—but either way, it’s an interesting time worth recalling. As Mark Twain put it, ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.’