The problem with the market for retirees is that if a crash hits at the wrong time they may get hurt very badly.
Young people have the luxury of being long term investors.
The trap for them is that a market crash often happens when the economy is in tough shape which increases their likelihood of being laid off—in many cases they have no choice but to dip into their investments to survive which makes all the previous “financial analysis” worthless.
Agreed! Timing, age, risk aversion, and just plain luck, all play into it.
If it were easy, everyone would be doing it, lol!
Back in the heydays of compound interest, you could just leave money in the bank, and do fair. Now, you’re losing 15%. Inflation...the invisible tax.