21 July 2010: Dodd-Frank becomes law
President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the biggest overhaul of US financial regulation since the 1930s. It created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, set up new rules for derivatives and stress tests for big banks, and aimed to end taxpayer bailouts. Bankers called it burdensome; critics said it did not go far enough. Both camps agreed it would keep compliance departments busy for years.
The lesson: After every major crisis, rules tighten; investors should expect regulation to follow the last disaster.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in JPMorgan at the start of 2010 → $7,143 today, vs $6,071 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2010, the year it happened. That is 7.1 times the money, and $1,071 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What JPMorgan teaches: In a crisis, the strongest balance sheet in an industry does more than survive; it gets to buy weaker rivals' assets at distressed prices.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | $42.00 | $7,143 | $6,071 |
| 2012 | $34.00 | $8,824 | $5,312 |
| 2015 | $62.00 | $4,839 | $3,301 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought JPMorgan? Every starting year and the full story →
More JPMorgan history
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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