There is nothing brutal about the market. the market doesn't kill people. it provides trading opportunities. How much $$$ did you lose? many traders are happy because we traded with the trend.
I'm in Fidelity BrokerageLink and can trade stocks in the 401k, but haven't found an inverse etf that it will let me buy. It lights up like a Christmas tree when I input SQQQ into the little box.....
Gee, I dunno...... just about EVERYONE in my old office. We're talking well paid six figure engineers, smart guys. Pwnd by the market this year.
IMO smart at engineering (and other technical occupations) is a hindrance to becoming smart about the markets. "How hard can it be, it's all just about math right? Got this." Uh no.
Yup hodlers that stick to the mantra ... over the long run (40, 50, 100 years lol) markets go up. Ignoring if you get in at a multi-year swing high, or how markets can and do go sideways for multi-year periods ... or worse. The F'up Fed created the BTD mentality monster. I can't imagine what long term hodlers will do if bear market continues all thru the rest of the 2020's? Never happen say the permabulls. I never say never anything, when it comes to the markets.
My point exactly. Every time I ponder on these things Japan crosses my mind. In my head the phrase is "a dead decade" but it's actually 3 decades before even coming close to a new historical high, ha-ha... One should strive to learn how to spot and take advantage of bull trends in a multi-year range bound market. Let's say you've probably opted to sit it out through the same type of market in the SPY 2015-2016 and 2018-2019 instead of learning what works at such times, you are now at a disadvantage.