>>Clearly, she is an idiot as far as investing goes. I never lost more than 8%.<<
Bully for you. Your story is not typical.
"REAL" investors also made money during the crash of '29, but their claims of everyone else being an idiot does not refute what happened.
Seriously, if her portfolio is that low now after the intervening years, she's been visiting her brokerage house to set fire to the remaining money. :(
Is losing 83% of your money typical for investors in the stock market? I hope not! Judging by the several freepmails I read, I did much more poorly than some, who never lost more than about 2-3%.
I money-back guarantee my story is MUCH closer to typical than your stupid friend who lost 83% of her principle. Holy crap, didn't she have ANY damage control measures in place? Someone with close to a mil ought be a little more intelligent than that. My kids do better on investments at ten years old than this dingbat!
As much as you try to doom-and-gloom, and piss on the economy, there are a lot of us out there making nice money, and are diversified enough to survive these minor bumps in the road.