Happy birthday, bull market!

It's the bull market's 7th birthday!

Since bottoming at 666.79 on March 6, 2009, the S&P 500 has shot up 197%.  It closed at 1,979.26 on Tuesday.

But if the S&P 500 were a person, we'd imagine that this may not exactly be the happiest of birthday celebrations.

That's because the index is counting some sharp losses it's suffered within the last seven months, especially the big sell-offs in August and January. And after closing in the red for 2015 (-0.7%), the index is down about 3% year-to-date. 

Still, the most important thing to remember is that stocks usually go up. And so for the long-term investor, there's something to celebrate. 

Here's what the rally looks like:

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