Bull vs Bear: Why Your Portfolio Gets Wrecked (And How to Survive)

Hearing “bull market” and “bear market” tossed around? Here’s the real deal — and why it actually matters for your wallet.

The basics:

• Bull market = stocks up 20%+ sustained uptrend. Feels good, economy booming, everyone’s confident. Think of bull horns pointing up.
• Bear market = stocks drop 20%+ or more. People panic, pull cash out, spiral gets worse. Bear swipes down.

The scary part: Since 1928, the S&P 500 hit 26 bear markets. But here’s the silver lining — bull markets lasted ~3 years on average vs bear markets averaging just 10 months. Bulls win the long game.

2020 was unhinged: March crash tanked the market 30%+ in days (fastest ever), then BOOM — recovered to all-time highs in just 33 trading days. Shortest bear market on record. Welcome to “black swan” territory.

The real lesson: Don’t panic sell at the bottom or FOMO buy at the peak. Long-term investors should ignore the noise — the historical trend is always up. Time in market > timing the market.

Staying calm > losing money. That’s the whole game.