I don't have a long investing history.
But that helps provide some perspective, as well.
In July 2020 I started an experiment by throwing any "cash back" rewards and spare pennies landing in our sweep into one of two mutual funds: one an S+P 500 and the other a Broad Int'l, at a ratio of 2:1 US to Int'l.
Definitely no market timing involved here, and as mutual funds just average out the cost per share, I don't really pay attention as to when and how much or which fund and when, I just keep randomly tossing pennies in the fountain. Here are my results at EOD today:
S+P 500 return = 11.8%
Int'l return = -3.64%
Blended return for my "cash back" pennies fund:
6.64%
That's nowhere near a free fall, but it's also not like my random walk in the markets the last 18 months has me dreaming of all the big things I'm going to do with my earnings, either! Heck,
cumulative inflation from July 2020 to Dec 2021 was 7.6%.
Yes, the S+P return from July 2020 till today is still a spectacular 28% if your money was all invested on July 1, even with current market results.
If you've been adding to a blended US/Int'l allocation for the last 18 months, it's a different story.
There's no harm in recognizing that.