Chan's Personal Blog

I've been hearing a lot of rhetoric in the news about how bad the current financial crisis is. A common phrase being thrown around is that this is a once in a century event. The New York Times has a very informative chart which illustrates how bad the stock markets are going, and how they compare to other bear markets.

I remember a couple months back, I was pondering if I was being bearish and pessimistic enough. Basically I wasn't. The scary thing is, it appears I'm still not bearish enough when you look at the chart. We've lost 50% of the stock market so far; however, during The Great Depression, the stock market lost 80% of its value.

Of course, there is a silver lining in all of this. A market crash is actually a boon if you're investing for retirement, ie you need your money in 40+ years. In the long-run, this is the ultimate play on "buy low, sell high" if your time horizons are long enough. That is why, I'm still doing some buying for my retirement fund.