"It's a Trap!"

Yup. I got suckered in:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-the-top-no-wait-this-is-the-top-2016-07-21

 

I like how they brush away the 80% great depression drawdown.

 

The don't brush it away. It's there. It's just in historical context. Obviously none of us are going to live 120 years, so if you were there, yeah it was obviously traumatizing. But if you bought the bottom and lived for the next 40 years, well, you also kicked butt. It's all about entry points.

 

Yeah, context and timing.

I see parabolic...but this could go for awhile...and then some.
Or not.

Like a burner on the stove that's cooling down. Might burn your fingers a few times before you're able to put your hand on it.

I really wanna throttle this thing but it's still a bit hot.

 

The point of the graph is that it's not about entry and exit points. The markets grow because wealth grows. And you can try to time it but in the end it keeps growing. It's BTFD over the long term.

 

And the wealth grows because you've chosen correct entry and exit points

 

You forget about inflation. And the fact the dogs are kicked out of the index every time and replaced by the shooting stars. That's how they get you into investing.

 

Re-do the chart after you normalised by inflation.
A dollar today is different from a dollar 100 years ago.