Everyday is a bank account, and time is our currency. No one is rich, no one is poor, we’ve got 24 hours each. -Christopher Rice

It feels like it was just yesterday when the Great Recession hit. The stock market was crashing more than a 10-year-old computer’s hard drive. Folks were in a panic. I even overheard someone saying to a friend that she lost 50 percent of their portfolio! Yikes! I was aghast. In the illustrious words of Velma from Scooby Doo, “Jinkies!”

In speaking with a financial aid officer, they stated while working at a university in DC that parents and students were flooding his office stating they had just lost their job and it was one after the other. It was a revolving door of people just coming to his door and saying they had been give the pink slip. Layoffs were everywhere you turned.

During 2008-2009, you could not turn on the news without hearing that unemployment levels were on the rise the likes of which they had never seen. Food banks, free pantries, churches, and non-profits were flooded with requests for help. The need was so great that some soup kitchens and church pantries were running of of food within days.

After the dust settled, things started to look up. We had hit rock bottom. Now it was time for things to go back up. The bear market went into hibernation and the bull market came out in full force. The market was seeing the red cape and came barreling after it. Stock prices were on the rise. No one could have foresaw what was on the horizon, but for those with cash it was a golden opportunity to invest.

Some experts seem as if they have a crystal ball. People like Warren Buffet, the world’s greatest investor, sits on tons of cash. As of this writing, Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on a record $100 billion in cash, as he feels stocks are just too high to buy. Buffet’s partner, Charlie Munger, believes in being patient and getting a bargain price on stocks. How could he possibly know this will happen? According to Munger, if you are patient, you will see that 2-3 times every 90 to 100 years the market crashes and if you are prepared, you can capitalize on that.

According to Investopdia contributor James Chen:

“The longest-running bull market in history celebrated its 10-year anniversary on Sat., March 9, 2019. It all started from the post-crisis low of March 9, 2009. The S&P 500’s (SPX) closing price on that fateful day in early 2009 was precisely 676.53. As of the market close on Wed., Oct. 9, 2019, the S&P 500 settled at 2,919.40. That represents around a 330% rise in a 10-year period. Not bad for a large-cap stock index.”

If you read my post Stock Splits and Misfits, then you know how right Mr. Munger is indeed. I have actually purchased B class shares (NYSE:BRK.B) of Berkshire. I decided to buy some shares to celebrate my birthday years back. After the stock split, not only did the price drop, but I also owned more shares. I went from owning 5 shares to 35 overnight! No matter what the market cycle, I invest. I do so for the long term. I am not a fair-weather investor. And neither should you be.

Everything I have ever witnessed anyone ever have came for years of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work. If you want to know something about anything, then merely pick a book on the subject. Want a woman’s perspective on life in the 1800’s, then read Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. If you want to be more knowledgeable about the world around you, might I suggest the reading list I published in my post Money Advice From Gossip Girl. But if you want to know more about investing, I say read the Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders that is published annually on their website.

Whatever it is, if you want something, then go after it with zeal. If you want something, make a plan and then put action behind your words. I knew that I wanted $100,000 in the stock market. I worked toward investing a minimum of 15 percent into my stock portfolio. Those things took time to do. At one point, I decided to move $26,000 from other index funds into just one: Vanguard’s 500 index fund. I wanted to have $100,000 working for me in just one fund as opposed to several different ones. Once I did that, then it was time to make sure my asset allocation was spread in different sectors that way if one sector tanked, the others ones would keep me afloat. So far, so good.