5 years later: Lessons from the crash

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5 years later: Lessons from the crash

Lehman Brothers' collapse in September 2008 sent stocks on a terrifying ride. A year-by-year look back reveals five key takeaways you need to heed today.

Lehman Brothers implodes

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Five years ago, you witnessed the worst panic unfold on Wall Street since the Great Depression.

As home prices fell and mortgage-backed securities soured, the pillars of the nation's financial system -- from investment banks led by Lehman Brothers to thrifts such as Washington Mutual to the insurer AIG to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- toppled like dominoes.

Among the eventual losses: 5,000 points on the Dow Jones industrial average, $7 trillion in wealth, and, of course, your faith in the financial system.

Fast-forward to the present, and the Dow has returned to pre-crisis levels and is back to setting new highs.

As you look at the key events that transpired since Lehman's collapse, you'll find lessons big and small that are as relevant as ever. It turns out that for better or worse, things haven't changed nearly as much since the crisis as you might have expected.

On the slides that follow is a year-by-year look at key events in the financial crisis, with the main lesson to take from each of them.

Watch: How did the financial crisis affect you?

NEXT: Lesson 1: Don't bank on one sector

BY IAN SALISBURY  @MONEY - LAST UPDATED SEPTEMBER 03 2013 05:24 PM ET