Jan. 4--Normally at the start of a new year, we wrap up the preceding year with a story about the winners and losers among local stocks. But let's face it: 2008 was a losing year just about all around. You already knew that before you picked up the newspaper this morning.

The Bloomberg Jacksonville index of 50 companies based in or with major operations in the Jacksonville area dropped 30.9 percent last year, roughly in line with the big declines in the major national stock indexes. Forty-five of the 50 stocks in the index, which is compiled by The Times-Union and Bloomberg News, lost money in 2008.

But really, are you investing for the short term or the long term? If you're a long-term investor, you should be more concerned with how your stocks are performing over several years, rather than worrying about short-term losses from the 2008 market crash. So instead of focusing just on 2008, we're also looking at long-term performance.

The stock market's bottom point this decade came on Oct. 10, 2002, when both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index hit lows. The market then began a five-year rally until both indexes hit their record highs on Oct. 11, 2007, so investors had a chance to make pretty good money from some local stocks over that long term. Even since the market began falling 14 months ago, some of those companies have maintained profits for their shareholders. The Bloomberg Jacksonville index produced a net 28.5 percent gain through the end of 2008 since that 2002 trough.

This chart shows how much money you had at the end of 2008 (including cash dividends you would have received) if you invested $1,000 in each Jacksonville-based company when the market hit its trough in 2002, to show how these companies have performed over the long haul. It also shows where you stood if you invested $1,000 at the market's 2007 peak, to show the companies' short-term performance.

mark.basch@jacksonville.com,

(904) 359-4308

WINNERS

--FPIC Insurance Group Inc.

FPIC's stock hit bottom at $3.50 the same time as the overall market, in October 2002. So investors who jumped in at that point have been well-rewarded. Even after the stock fell from its record highs in September, the medical malpractice insurance company has maintained a strong 545 percent long-term return for investors.

--Waste Technology Corp.

Waste Technology's stock was listed at only $1.02 at the end of 2008.