I went in in August 2007, when the DOW was at 14700 or so. I watched my portfolio dip from $27K to $18K. Everyone I knew was going cash. I didn't. I trimmed the sails, turned into the wind, and learned. There's no better learning that reading everything you can about the market when the market is doing back-to-back triple-digit drops in the 8000's, with your money in the game. I sold some pigs, bought some as they were going down. The best pickings were on the floor, BK at the corner, and people had written them off. I got lucky that I was buying when everyone was scared, but I didn't buy because the stock was low, I bought because I knew the companies had customers, long term contracts, good manufacturing know-how, good management, and made products their customers wanted. At that point, I reinvested another $25K in securities, from when the DOW was around 7500, and gold was shooting up, to about 10,000. After that, it was all growth, reinvestment of dividends, etc. I pulled $10K out in December 2012 (down payment on car), and had $61K in the portfolio after. This week, not really doing anything, it's at $99K. Yes, it's a wave, but like in surfing, you gotta be in the water to catch it. I have holdings in about 60 companies. My last trade was selling $1600 of Honda stock and buying $500 of Fedex and $600 of Toro, both adding to existing positions.