Don’t forget about the gains for the twelve year period from 2009 through 2021. During that timeframe it was only down twice: -2.23% in 2015 and -5.63% in 2018. Three years during the same timeframe it was up more than 20%. So the moral of this story is “time in the market beats timing the market.”

That’s kind of the point. Unlike rational markets, when stock prices fall demand falls as well. People sell their stocks because they’re afraid it will fall more. And then there’s all the doom and gloom in the media.

And then, out of nowhere, the market rises 14.4% in a month. And people start to get interested again. But the people sold at the low are now buying it at a higher price.