The tobacco plant, Nicotiana tabacum. Public-domain photograph.
From late 2008 until December 2015, the policy rate sat near zero and asset prices did the climbing.
If money is tight, cheap money is a rumor until a bank will actually lend it to you.
If you are in the middle, a low mortgage rate can put you in a house, and the house price rises to meet the rate.
If you have savings, stocks and property reward you for leaving cash, because cash pays almost nothing.
The federal funds rate stayed near zero from December 2008 until the Federal Reserve nudged it up in December 2015.
In 2013, a hint that the Fed might buy fewer bonds was enough to jolt markets.
Houses and shares rose for years, and for many households the paycheck was the slow part of the recovery.
Source: Federal Reserve, near-zero funds rate from December 2008 to the December 2015 increase; May 2013 taper remarks.