“If in the highly unlikely event the market does crash to zero, I will be in the same boat as everybody else. Having retirement accounts decimated will be the least of our worries if that happens.”
True, true. There’s a bottom... and it’s likely well above zero. For the market to go to zero, we’d have to be in a situation of all-out nuclear war or something equally horrific.
But barring armageddon, zero simply ain’t happening. There are certain companies in the Dow 30 right now that are darned near indestructible. Like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Apple, Visa, etc. How bad would the world economy have to get to put any of those completely out of business? Oh, sure, a haircut of 50% or more is within the realm of possibility, but total failure? No, it ain’t happening.
When I say "if the market goes to zero, it will be the least of our problems", it's to illustrate the unlikeliness of that ever happening.
Another thing to consider is that just 13 years ago (2009), the Dow Jones had an average closing of just under 9,000.
Since then, the Dow Jones has more than tripled and even after this year's bloodbath, it still stands triple what it was just 13 years ago. Even if it drops 10,000 more points, it will still be double what it was in 2009.
What if I went back in time to 2009 and told you all that the Dow Jones would double over the next 13 years. Most of us would be pretty happy with those results.