These daily ups and downs don’t matter. As long as you prepare yourself for the long haul you will be fine for retirement. I have been in the stock market since June 1987 with 400 dollars...yep October 1987, it was about 20 cents but I stuck with it and added money every month since through ups and downs, good Presidents and bad ones and in the long run, it was been incredible to see the money grow and grow.
You rode a secular bull market from 1987 to 2000. That is, the overall market rose steadily and irrepressibly for 25 years.
We are now in a secular bear market that is returning nothing to your average buy-and-hold investor. Sure, some win and some lose. But the market is not rising overall. It is stagnant with volatile swings. We could have an other 10 or 15 years of this secular bear.
People were wise to be heavily into stocks from 1985 to 2000. Those not into stocks today are not so unwise. We aren’t missing anything. I still have taken less loss on my portfolio than most people I know, after I moved to all cash/safe investments in 2006. There is nothing wrong with seeking safety during a secular bear market if you aren’t a day trader playing the volatility.