As you may know, this week marks the one-year anniversary of the stock market's 12-year low. Along with commentary on the incredible market rebound since then has come more chatter about the "lost decade" in stocks. This is because this week is also the 10th anniversary of the bull-market peak that occurred right before the bursting of the tech-stock bubble. 

Undeniably, it was a lost decade for investors who stuck with only the Standard & Poor's 500 or Dow Jones industrials. But the same 10 years provided numerous profit opportunities for vigilant, proactive investors, as we've previously pointed out. We saw multiyear bull markets in foreign stocks, commodities, U.S. mid-cap and small-cap stocks, and real estate investment trusts, among others. Bonds were big winners too. 

As noted below, most of the wealth creation of the last year has come from the financial markets. Yet relatively few individuals, still recovering from the 2008 disaster, have benefited. Now is the time to look ahead. Read more...