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One year later, how much did Lehman cost you?

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Plenty of buy-and-hold investors may forever regret not lightening up on stocks when the financial crisis deepened one year ago this week with Lehman Bros.’ bankruptcy.

Yet those regrets have lessened significantly thanks to the dramatic rally in global equity markets since March.

If you stayed put, as opposed to selling into the worst of the post-Lehman panic last fall and winter, do you feel vindicated, lucky -- or maybe both?

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The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 16.7% in price in the year ended Friday. Including dividends earned, the net loss was 14.4%.

By contrast, at its bear-market low on March 9 the S&P was down 45% from its level just before Lehman’s demise a year ago.

The average U.S. stock mutual fund’s loss over the last 12 months has been pared to 11%, according to Morningstar Inc.

Foreign stock funds have fared much better, thanks to strength in many emerging markets and to the weak dollar: The average foreign fund’s 12-month loss is a mere 2.9%.

What’s more, a portfolio that was well-diversified a year ago should already be showing some investments back in the black. The Pimco Total Return bond fund, for example, is up 12% over the last 12 months, including dividends. The Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt muni bond fund is up 3.9%.

And gold’s 12-month gain was 30.7% through Friday, as measured by the SPDR Gold Trust exchange-traded fund.

The portfolio costs from the aftermath of Lehman’s failure are one way to measure the devastation that ensued. There also is the mammoth hit suffered by the real economy as credit dried up, businesses failed in huge numbers and surviving firms slashed jobs.

Even for investors who are in far better shape than they could have imagined six months ago, the lesson that many learned in the post-Lehman market debacle was that they weren’t nearly as risk-tolerant as they thought.

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If you can’t stand the thought of seeing a big chunk of your principal wiped out even temporarily, then the stock market’s stunning comeback since March is a second chance to get into your true comfort zone with risk -- by lightening up accordingly.

-- Tom Petruno

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