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My wife an I took all of our money our of the stock market in 2008 when we lost half of our retirement savings before we got a statement in the mail telling us it had dropped.

Some people will bail out at the bottom which is the worst thing you can do. I had bailed during a crash in early 2000s when I was concerned I was getting laid off. That's when I learned one can never figure out the low and know when to get back into the market. I got back in at a higher price than the price I sold. Lesson learned.

During 2008 I stayed put and within 4 years or so I was back to where I was. The market did well during the Obama years contrary to conventional wisdom because of artificially low interest rates.

It is tough to navigate stuff like this. Best thing I learned is to leave it invested and leave it alone for 40 years and you get well rewarded and can comfortably retire.

That's a great strategy if you'e not retiring and don't need the money for years. Getting out at the "bottom" as you call it, was the only way to preserve what principal we had left.

We were retiring and didn't have a way to replace our losses because we had quit our jobs. Too risky to leave it in for more losses.

Since then we just keep in a few savings accounts. Doesn't make much in interest but unless the banks default on us, at least we can retain what principal we have left.

I'm not interested in putting my money back in the stock market because, it's like going to the roulette tables in Vegas. The odds are not in your favor.

And now I see that the stock market is taking it in the shorts again. My money is not in as much risk now as it would be if it was back in the equities market.

We retired as planned and are living comfortably on our cattle farm in Florida.