[steveBK123]

Everyone has a different definitions of short & long term, and the resulting volatility appetite.

Volatility is also a lot easier to read and pontificate about than to experience in real time. What people do during draw downs is often emotion driven and for people who have never been through it, it's hard to infer from textbooks.

And there have been periods where the market has been down for near a decade. If you put a lump sum at the 2000 peak, you wouldn't be back to even until the 2007 peak.. at which point it promptly crashed and didn't make back to even until 2013. (+/- a few years when you factor in dividends). Similar for 1973/1980/1982.

Slow grind downs like the GFC are harder to experience as you watch slow losses pile up day after day for near 18 months.