It's real easy to look back 50 years at what would have been a great investment, but trying to pick stocks today that will generate that kind of return in another 50 years (or whatever...), is much, much tougher. If only... 
One of the few things I learned when I worked for a brokerage company decades ago is that when the market dives, we haven't really lost anything unless or until we sell. Another was to "buy low, sell high". The latter requires periodically re-balancing a portfolio, which means investing plenty of time to educate yourself and stay on top of trends - OR finding a good financial advisor you trust. [I've had terrible luck with that...] One alternative, as ananotary suggests, is to invest in the market itself, via indexes. With a long enough time horizon, markets have always come back over time. |
