“Best to just invest over decades and leave it alone.”
Agreed. We do not plan on touching our IRA until forced at age 70. In this last year the IRA lost 11% of it’s value. Our strategy is as you say, “leave it alone”. It will recover.
But those depending on their investments as a source of income have got to be near a nervous breakdown, and panicky people do stupid things.
People depending on investments for income should not have a large portion of it in stocks. There are free asset allocation calculators all over the internet that tell you the ideal percentage you should have in stocks in a given situation. Generally speaking, the older and closer to retirement you are, the more you should be moving out of pure stocks and the more you should be moving into balanced and fixed funds. You will likely get a lower return but you will also be insulated against big losses.
I know. I have been there.