Which is worse...losing two percent this year on a money market or CD through inflation, or losing FOURTY percent when the market crashes?
There are some less volatile stocks such as liquor and cigarettes which pay a decent dividend and are more likely to survive the coming plunge and will recover more readily after it. At a minimum the dividend assists in retaining the value of what was put in and stop loss orders can reduce the risk further.
I currently get 5%+ on MO and close to 3% on RGR. MO has been a long term hold and bounced back from the fall in 2008/09 as expected, RGR has been a good call for me more recently. In both cases I have done better than if I held cash or CDs. However I’m on a cash basis in the 401K and other holdings as I won’t play the mutual fund game while the funky is being played.