[TheCoelacanth]

The recessions only hollowed out 401ks if you liquidated at the bottom. If you held, the later gains made up for the losses and a lot more.

[chiph]

As the saying goes - time in market beats timing the market.

I have a friend with a wealthy father who has never bought even a single bond share. He has stayed invested in equities his entire career and into retirement. He was already retired in 2008 - and the drop was a mere hiccup for him. He didn't panic-sell and just continued making his required minimum distributions like normal.

[phendrenad2]

A lot of people had to in order to keep their homes, cars, kids in college, etc.

[guenthert]

I think that greatly depends on what you invested in. E.g. the stock price of Citi bank hasn't recovered to this day.