Well, it's official: We just lived through the single worst decade for the stock market in history, following, of course, the best decade (which was the 1990's). Of course, in Why The Dow Jones Industrial Average 10 Year Record Is Deceptive, I explained that for most 401(k) investors, it didn't matter because the combination of employer matching, tax breaks for contributions, dollar cost averaging, and dividend reinvestment would have still resulted in them being far closer to their retirement goals than they were ten years ago, especially if they had an asset allocation that included both stocks and bonds.
At Christmas dinner, several members of my family were discussing their own experience and they were all near perfect case studies for the recent news from Fidelity and Vanguard that the average 401(k) investor now has more money in their account than when the crash began two years ago. That's not something you're going to hear about on the news because, as I said last week, it's something most financial journalists don't even know themselves.
As you enter the next decade less than a week from today, focus on the same lessons that have served investors so well for nearly two hundred years. Put together a portfolio of broadly diversified assets, fully fund your retirement accounts, save regularly, maintain health insurance at all costs so you won't be forced into bankruptcy if something goes terribly wrong, and don't pay too much in commissions or other fees. Over time, your wealth will begin to add up to something. That's how compounding works.