Probably best to just sit on the sidelines in cash for the next 8-10 years, and reluctantly get back into the market after it increases 300% from its current valuation.
great plan.
meanwhile, up 22% since exiting.
I think it's a bit premature to start gloating. The markets are swinging wildly in both directions, and seemingly at random.
I really liked your earlier quote, but I want to take issue with "seemingly at random".
Monday, March 9, U.S. stocks were hit both by COVID-19 spreading in the U.S., and an oil price war.
Tuesday, the market digested the oil price situation, and oil stocks recovered - and the market regained most of it's loss (but not the COVID-19 part)
Friday, March 13, U.S. stocks anticipated good news from President Trump, rising +4% before he spoke, and ultimately finished +9% after he declared a national emergency.
Monday, March 16, the market reacted to the Fed, which (1) held their meeting early, (2) dropped rates by -1.00% and (3) began quantitative easing. The markets interpreted this as emergency measures only deployed in situations like the 2008 financial crisis... and dropped into free fall. U.S. stocks almost stabilized around -9%, but then President Trump opened his mouth, sending markets dropping further, to finish around -11.5%.
I still like the joke about sitting out 8-10 years to miss all the stock market gains, but I disagree that the market is moving randomly. The amount of volatility has me wondering if the market will care when the U.S. hits 10,000 cases, but I guess we'll see either Friday (Mar 20) or Monday (Mar 23).