When you stop trying to guess and predict where the market may go and simply learn to be a caboose, then and only then will you avoid getting way off track and suffering terribly, which unravels and destroys all your progress and leaves you with little more than market returns at best. It's when we argue with the verdict of the market and dig in with a rigid opinion do we set ourselves up for big losses with almost certainty. It doesn't have to be that way! I have not taken a big portfolio draw down in 30-years. By following sound principles, this type of risk management can be learned and applied by anyone. My assistant Mark Ritchie has only had 3 losing years in 13 with none of them larger than 6%. How? Not by having a crystal ball, I assure you. Rather by being patient and trusting our eyes, not our emotions and by bending with the market. No Monday Morning Quarterbacking, just patience and the discipline to wait as long as it takes for the correct pitches to come across the plate. No forced trades... no big losses and all quality risk/reward choices, and never allowing the indexes or outside noise to influence our decisions.