> What I previously thought as "okay I just leave it in the stock market for a bit of time to recoup" is something I am now realizing would likely have to be 10

> What I previously thought as "okay I just leave it in the stock market for a bit of time to recoup" is something I am now realizing would likely have to be 10+ years. I am wondering where you previously got your information? At one point ten years was considered about the minimum time window for investing in stocks. To give an example, an old rule of thumb was to have 100 minus your age percent of your retirement savings in stocks and the rest in less volatile investments such as bonds (so a 50 year old would be half and half between stocks and bonds).