8. You invested $2,000 in the stock market one year ago. Today, the investment is valued at $9,500. What return did you earn? What return would you need to suffer next year for your investment to be valued at the original $2,000?

To calculate the return you earned on your investment, use the formula:

Return = (Final Value - Initial Value) / Initial Value

In this case, the initial value is $2,000 and the final value is $9,500. Plugging these values into the formula:

Return = ($9,500 - $2,000) / $2,000 = 3.75

So, you earned a return of 3.75 or 375%.

Now, to calculate the return you would need to suffer next year for your investment to be valued at the original $2,000, you can rearrange the formula:

Return = (Final Value - Initial Value) / Initial Value

To solve for the Final Value:

Final Value = (Return * Initial Value) + Initial Value

In this case, since you want the final value to be $2,000 and the initial value is $9,500, plug these values into the formula and solve for the return:

$2,000 = (Return * $9,500) + $9,500

Subtracting $9,500 from both sides:

$2,000 - $9,500 = Return * $9,500

Simplifying:

-$7,500 = Return * $9,500

Dividing both sides by $9,500:

Return = -0.7895

So, for your investment to be valued at the original $2,000 next year, you would need to suffer a negative return of -0.7895 or -78.95%.