Fair enough, but the point is that 5 tot 10 years is realtively short term. Imagine looking at the stock market from 2006 to 2011. Ouch! But then 2011 until 2

Fair enough, but the point is that 5 tot 10 years is realtively short term. Imagine looking at the stock market from 2006 to 2011. Ouch! But then 2011 until 2016 looks amazing! Wow! There will always be up and downs. The trick is not to try and time them, just ride it out. And don't forget to put a bigger percentage of your portfolio in bonds / safe things the older you get. You don't want to retire one year after the next '2008' and have everything in stocks.