justin:

Two-year rule seems like a very good idea.   

Thanks, again, for saving my a** and preserving my $$.  I think I will follow this two-year rule and tiptoe in slowly on dips.

Well, that's my strategy. I'm not saying it will be the best approach. There is always the possibility to make a lot of money during these dislocations (should have bought Apple, Research in Motion, Corning, etc, at the bottom of the tech collapse... of course, my plastic ball was dirty and all scratched up then). Which financial stocks will be 10-baggers over the next five years? Might be worth taking a "lotto" approach with one or two stocks, and just mentally writing the money off. That's hard to do, though!

Duane