Honestly, I set up the couch potato like we were told, logged in one day and was like, "Sweet dividends!" I wasn't expecting them and with having bought pretty much everything when the markets were high last (still haven't recovered from when we bought in) All I'm pretty much doing is hoping it all works out (Clearly I have a lot to learn!) I feel like all it's doing in loosing money. But I'm fighting against some fairly large parental conditioning that thinks the stock market is evil, going to collapse and take us all down with it.
My mom is 90 years old and she still talks about how they never made money in the markets. But that was back in the 1970s, when the market did horribly after the 1960s bull market, inflation killed purchasing power and high interest rates crushed bond returns. Longer-term the stock market has been the best way to generate wealth from savings. Here are 2 good references that will help steel your resolve:
If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly by William Bernstein. It's a free ebook and the author says more in 16 pages than many authors say in hundreds.
https://www.etf.com/docs/IfYouCan.pdfMillionnaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam is a great story about frugal living and low cost investing.
https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Teacher-Wealth-Should-Learned/dp/0470830069It is helpful to look at history to understand how the stock market recovers from corrections and bear markets:
May 1946 to May 1947. Stocks plunge 28.4%.
June 1948 to June 1949. Stocks decline 20.6%.
June 1950 to July 1950. Stocks fall 14%.
July 1957 to October 1957. Stocks fall 20.7%.
January 1962 to June 1962. Stocks plunge 26.4%
February 1966 to October 1966. Stocks fall 22.2%.
November 1968 to May 1970. Stocks plunge 36.1%.
April 1973 to October 1974. Stocks plunge 48%
September 1976 to March 1978. Stocks fall 19.4%.
February 1980 to March 1980. Stocks fall 17.1%.
November 1980 to August 1982. Stocks fall 27.1%.
August 1987 to December 1987. Stocks fall 33.5%.
July 1990 to October 1990. Stocks fall 19.9%.
July 1998 to August 1998. Stocks fall 19.3%.
March 2000 to October 2002. Stocks plummet 49.1%.
November 2002 to March 2003. Stocks fall 14.7%
October 2007 to March 2009. Stocks plummet 56.8%.
April 2011 to October 2011. Stocks fall 19.4%.
June 2015 to August 2015. Stocks fall 11.9%
Stocks gained +1,100-fold during this 70-year period.
Source:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/09/09/keep-in-mind-stocks-rose-1100-fold-during-this-per.aspxLesson learned:
Stay-the-Course