06/15/2025
This chart titled “Periods When to Make Money” attributed to Samuel Benner is a real historical artifact, but it should be viewed more as a curiosity or early attempt at market cycle theory rather than a scientifically reliable predictive model.
🔍 Origin:
• The chart is based on Samuel Benner’s cycle theory, first published in the late 19th century (around 1875).
• Benner was a farmer who, after losing his wealth in the Panic of 1873, tried to find patterns in commodity and stock market booms and busts.
• This chart attempts to forecast periods of:
• “A”: Panics (crashes and recessions),
• “B”: High prices and times to sell,
• “C”: Low prices and times to buy.
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📈 Does it work? Has it been accurate?
Subjectively, some of the predicted years (e.g., 1929, 1981, 2007, 2020s) do appear close to major market events, especially:
• 1929 → Great Depression
• 1981-82 → Deep recession
• 2007 → Start of Great Financial Crisis
• 2019–2020 → Pandemic market crash
But…
⚠️ Critical Assessment:
• The chart uses regular cycles (18-20 years), implying predictable rhythmic behavior of financial markets. But:
• Markets are not perfectly cyclical.
• Modern economies are influenced by geopolitical, monetary, and technological shocks, which are not periodic.
• No empirical/statistical validation exists for Benner’s chart under modern economic science.
• It does not incorporate macroeconomic indicators, earnings, interest rates, or inflation.
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✅ Takeaways:
• It’s interesting as a long-term sentiment indicator or rough timing tool.
• Useful for spotting possible inflection points, especially when combined with other tools (e.g., valuation, Fed policy, earnings growth).
• Should not be used as a stand-alone forecast model.
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🔍 Bottom Line (No Sugar-Coating):
Yes, this is a real historical chart, and it has coincidentally lined up with some market events, but it’s not statistically reliable or causally grounded. It’s a fascinating tool to watch — like a weather almanac — but not to trade or invest by itself.
🔁 Example:
If you had invested $1,000 using this strategy:
• Strategy: Buy at C, Sell at A
• Total Return (x): 143.95
→ Final value: $1,000 × 143.95 = $143,950
• CAGR: 0.03778
→ That’s 3.78% average annual return, compounded, over the entire period.