The one thing I did learn, is the danger of becoming enamored with stocks. I have always invested with the hope to get an 8-12% average annual return over the long haul. I have never bought individual stocks before, but the drop in Feb/Mar was simply too tempting to pass up. We bought Boeing and Carnival stock. I checked them a few weeks ago and both had gained over 90%. I suggested to my spouse to sell the Carnival stock, since I viewed it as higher risk. We didn't and it dropped down to a "lousy" 60% return less than a week later. I have since placed a sell order at the 90% mark for Carnival, if and when it gets back to it. I intend to keep Boeing, because I do believe that it will provide a 400% return within the next 3-4 yrs. When you invest in mutual funds, you don't watch the daily rollercoaster ride that individual stocks go through. I see how you can make a lot of money if you seize opportunities as they arise, but I also see how you can easily get burned. I only took $10k out of our cash funds to play with, so it's relatively insignificant portion of our portfolio and I consider gambling more than investing.
Like others have said, I don't think the ride is over yet. The market has been "manipulated" and/or "managed" a lot more over the past 20 yrs, so I think that historical performance is not very reliable. I get emails daily from investment advisors about the impending doom of the US Dollar, the coming crash or some other "insight." Everyone of them can provide multiple examples of how they predicted past economic events. Of course, when you are spewing predictions daily, it's easy to get it right a few times over the long haul.
Aside from some minor rebalancing to get back to our 20/80 mix, I didn't really react to the drop in the market. We keep around 3 yrs in cash and maintain a 20/80 mix in our investments. I invest in index funds to keep things simple. Next year, we will be living entirely off our investments. Our first retirement income stream will start in 2022, the next one in 2025 and our last one will commence in 2032. This financial blip in our first year of FIRE has me appreciating the importance of these future income streams.