That means they had it all in tech stocks. I'd be gun shy too..
I’m sorry, I must have not made it clear that they bought into the “New Economy” lie and put everything into the NASDAQ around the time that it peaked. Believe it or not, I had one co-worker who lost a good chunk of his money on WebVan and rode it all the way to the bottom. As it went down, he doubled down on the stock, thinking he was dollar-cost-averaging. Well, it went bust.
Yes, they all bought into the “New Economy” lie and they all invested heavily in tech stocks in 1999, just before the collapse. It may not be logical that they can’t get over their bad experience, but they just refuse to invest in stocks anymore. They are just compounding their mistakes.
That said, I am all in cash at this moment as I expect stocks to go down further and be a bad play for the next year. I’m in no hurry to get back in the market. I may well be wrong, but that’s how I see it.