Could you really invest through two 50% crashes and still come out ahead?
The 1990–2020 window is the stress test. Dot-com bubble bursting (S&P down 49%). The 2008 financial crisis (down 57%). Two of the worst crashes in modern history, packed into a single 30-year investing lifetime.
The evidence
$1,000/month into an 80/20 portfolio from 1990 to 2020. Total contributions: $360,000. Final value: $1.0 million. A 2.8x return despite two catastrophic drawdowns.
The dot-com crash was a buying opportunity — shares purchased at 2002 lows multiplied as markets recovered. The 2008 crisis was an even better one. Every share bought at the bottom of those crashes compounded through the longest bull market in modern history.
The caveat
This outcome required one thing: not stopping. The investors who sold during either crash locked in their losses. The investors who kept their $1,000 monthly contribution going — buying shares at prices that felt reckless at the time — built the foundation of their eventual million.
Dollar-cost averaging through crashes isn't comfortable. But the 1990–2020 record shows it's devastatingly effective.
See how your savings would have grown on Bellavia.
