Still shellshocked by "08, clients are oblivious to market run, research shows

Even after 43 months of a bull market run, most investors still can't get over the severe beat-down they suffered in 2008, when the S&P 500 fell by nearly 40%. According to Franklin Templeton Investments, which released new research last week, individual investors in general are too conservative and/or out of sync with what has been happening in the equity markets over the past few years. One surprising finding is that investors are so consumed by the negative factors influencing the economy, including high unemployment and the weak housing market, that they haven't noticed the strength of the stock market. For example, when 1,000 in-vestors were asked whether the S&P 500 was up or down during each of the past three years, 66% said it was down in 2009, 48% said it was down in 2010 and 53% said it was down last year. In fact, the S&P 500 gained 26.5% in 2009, 15.1% in 2010 and 2.1% last year. [email protected] Twitter: @jeff_benjamin