Quick Read
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) delivered a 28% one-year return through May 2026, with 80% gains over five years and 259% over ten years, rewarding disciplined investors who maintained their strategy despite a VIX spike to $29.17 in March that triggered retail capitulation.
The difference between winners and losers in investing comes down to following a structured plan through volatility rather than abandoning positions during market stress, as demonstrated by Fidelity’s 654,000 401(k) millionaires who averaged $613,200 in savings through disciplined, time-horizon-matched contributions.
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Clare Flynn Levy, author of Stock Market Maestros, recently appeared on the Afford Anything podcast and delivered what may be the most deflating advice a long-term investor can hear: stop trying to be clever. “If you’re being long-term, and you are actually being it, that’s all you need to do,” she told host Paula Pant. The rule is deceptively simple, and that simplicity is exactly why most people fail to follow it.
The Rule Is Structure
Flynn Levy is careful to draw a hard line between disciplined long-term investing and autopilot neglect. Being long-term, she explains, “means constantly recalibrating what your needs are, what your deadline is, what your time horizon is, and all of that, and also what your wants are, and constantly redoing that equation.” The work is ongoing. The decisions, ideally, are not.
Her closing line on the show was even blunter: “You just need a bit of structure that you actually follow around how you invest. If you do that, you’re going to be fine.” The operative phrase is “actually follow.” Plenty of investors have a plan, but far fewer obey their plans when markets turn ugly.
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Why the Past Year Validated the Framework
The last twelve months are a near-perfect case study. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) closed at $745.64 on May 22, 2026, posting a 28% one-year return. Stretch the horizon, and the case strengthens: 80% over five years and 259% over ten.
That tidy return narrative obscures how nerve-wracking the ride was. The CBOE Volatility Index spiked to $29.17 on March 27, 2026, a level that historically pushes retail investors toward the exits. It has since settled to 16.76 as of May 21, squarely back in the normal range. Investors who recalibrated through that turbulence (rather than abandoning ship) own the gains. Those who sold into the spike booked the loss and missed the recovery.
