Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid - No 6

6. Fear Taking Calculated Risks. A mentally strong person is willing to take calculated risks. This is a different thing entirely than jumping headlong into foolish risks. But with mental strength, an individual can weigh the risks and benefits thoroughly, and will fully assess the potential downsides and even the worst-case scenarios before they take action.

Actionable Items

What I like to do is to read the above paragraph, and then I like to write down my understanding as well.

Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid - No 5

5. Worry About Pleasing Others. Know any people pleasers? Or, conversely, people who go out of their way to dis-please others as a way of reinforcing an image of strength? Neither position is a good one. A mentally strong person strives to be kind and fair and to please others where appropriate, but is unafraid to speak up. They are able to withstand the possibility that someone will get upset and will navigate the situation, wherever possible, with grace.

Actionable Items

What I like to do is to read the above paragraph, and then I like to write down my understanding as well.

Give examples: 
strive to be kind and fair and to please others where appropriate, but is unafraid to speak up. 

Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid - No 4

4. Waste Energy on Things They Can’t Control. Mentally strong people don’t complain (much) about bad traffic, lost luggage, or especially about other people, as they recognize that all of these factors are generally beyond their control. In a bad situation, they recognize that the one thing they can always control is their own response and attitude, and they use these attributes well.

Actionable Items

What I like to do is to read the above paragraph, and then I like to write down my understanding as well.

Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid - No 3

3.    Shy Away from Change. Mentally strong people embrace change and they welcome challenge. Their biggest “fear," if they have one, is not of the unknown, but of becoming complacent and stagnant. An environment of change and even uncertainty can energize a mentally strong person and bring out their best.

Actionable Items

What I like to do is to read the above paragraph, and then I like to write down my understanding as well.

Give examples how I embrace change and I welcome challenge. 

Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid - No 2

2. Give Away Their Power. Mentally strong people avoid giving others the power to make them feel inferior or bad. They understand they are in control of their actions and emotions. They know their strength is in their ability to manage the way they respond.

Actionable Items

What I like to do is to read the above paragraph, and then I like to write down my understanding as well.

How do I understand I am in control of my actions and emotions? 

How do I know my strength is in my ability to manage the way I respond?

How To Become Mentally Strong: A Video Chat With Amy Morin

Here is the article.

Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid - No 1

Here is the article.


1.    Waste Time Feeling Sorry for Themselves. You don’t see mentally strong people feeling sorry for their circumstances or dwelling on the way they’ve been mistreated. They have learned to take responsibility for their actions and outcomes, and they have an inherent understanding of the fact that frequently life is not fair. They are able to emerge from trying circumstances with self-awareness and gratitude for the lessons learned. When a situation turns out badly, they respond with phrases such as “Oh, well.” Or perhaps simply, “Next!”

Actionable Items

What I like to do is to read the above paragraph, and then I like to write down my understanding as well.

How I learn to take responsibility for my actions and outcomes?

I chose to be a Christian starting from 2001. I like to be a responsible person, and take thing seriously. I like to learn from bible teaching.

Outcomes - I felt so depressed on Nov. 2018 since I could not afford one bedroom condo in the city of Vancouver. I like to be a problem solver. I started the first time my personal finance research, I like to figure out why I am poor, and stay in the life stage what is next.

5 Powerful Exercises To Increase Your Mental Strength

Here is the article.

A secret to Netflix’s success: Social media

Here is the article.

Case study: My expenses report to San Francisco Facebook onsite trip

Sept. 19, 2019

Introduction

It is my personal finance research. I like to do a case study how I spent money and time on onsite trip to San Francisco 3 days trips.

Case study

I just got noticed that on Sept. 18, 2019, my expenses has been approved and also the amount is already deposited into my US chase bank account.

I like to do a case study, and look into how I should do better in order to be a financial responsible person.

The maximum amount for international candidate is $500 US dollars, my expense is $302.00 dollars. I think that I stayed in budget, 60% of maximum amount. Great job.

After the trip, I also got a free Linkedin 6 month premium account from the friend I met on this trip. It is important for me to learn that I should behave my best as a friend, support those friends even though they are much more successful in their career already.

Here is my folder on github repository.

Car rental: $165.35 (include gas I spent)
Parking: $52.00 (Pullman hotel)

Other expenses

I like to document my expenses of ticket and hotel as well. The pullman hotel is such a place to stay, compared to the four star hotel in Seattle on June 8, 2018's expense $450.00 us dolars one night, this one costs less.

My airline ticket expenses

Total expenses:

$493.83  hotel
$731.44  airline ticket
$302.00  rental car and other expenses

In total, $1537.27

Lessons I learned

Most of important I learned is that people were waiting to meet me, and evaluate how good I can code and also design system. I should ensure them I travel safe and on schedule, and also notify the recruiter I arrive the hotel. Just be polite and keep in touch all the time.

I should not worry about at all about missing flight. MPK park is only less than 20 miles away from the international airport. It only take me less than 30 minutes driving on highway, less than 10 minutes to return the car.

I learn that I should focus on more on performance of my coding interview, and ensure that I pushed myself to the limit, test my own code, try to break the code, and focus on task to make the code perfect instead.

rental car two days: 80 miles, $9.99/ gallon, cost $13.86 dollar for gas.
SF international airport -> MPK Facebook hq building 19 miles
223 Twin Dolphin Drive - stanford university campus 10 miles one way

3 hours - Stanford university campus visit, August 19
less than 3 hours - Dinner with friends in Sichun restaranaut - 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Swimming - 1.5 hours on August 18, 1.0 hours on August 19
Gym - 2 hours on August 19
Lunch break meet a friend - one hour on August 19

4 ideas to learn from Netflix wiki article

Sept. 19, 2019

Introduction

It is so surprising that I should have read Netflix wiki article long time ago, probably in 2002, not in 2019 Sept. 19. I subscribed Netflix a few years starting from 2015 (?), I should look into the company as my investment. I spent half hour to read this wiki article, and I like to write down what I should look into, facts, arguments, ideas related to Netflix.

4 ideas to learn from 

It is so easy to figure out what I should look into, and the wiki article is written so well with data, facts, and finance. I just could not believe that I spent time from 2002 to 2019 on so many things, but I should have spent at least 10 hours on Netflix case study.

Fact 1: 

While they experienced fast growth in early 2001, both the dot-com bubble burst and the September 11 attacks would occur later that year, affecting the company badly and forcing them to lay off one third of their 120 employees. 

Fact 2:

Netflix initiated an initial public offering (IPO) on May 29, 2002, selling 5.5 million shares of common stock at the price of US$15.00 per share. On June 14, 2002, the company sold an additional 825,000 shares of common stock at the same price.

Fact 3:
By 2010, Netflix's streaming business had grown so quickly that within months the company had shifted from the fastest-growing customer of the United States Postal Service's first-class service to the largest source of Internet streaming traffic in North America in the evening. 


Fact 4:

Finance

For the fiscal year 2018, Netflix reported earnings of US$1.21 billion, with an annual revenue of US$15.8 billion, an increase of approximately 116% over the previous fiscal cycle. Netflix's shares traded at over $400 per share at its highest price in 2018, and its market capitalization reached a value of over US$180 billion in June 2018. Netflix ranked 261 on the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States companies by revenue.^[114]

Year	Revenue in mil. USD-$	Net income in mil. USD-$	Price per Share in USD-$	Employees
2005	682	42	2.59
2006	997	49	3.69
2007	1,205	67	3.12
2008	1,365	83	4.09
2009	1,670	116	6.32
2010	2,163	161	16.82	2,180
2011	3,205	226	27.49	2,348
2012	3,609	17	11.86	2,045
2013	4,375	112	35.27	2,022
2014	5,505	267	57.49	2,450
2015	6,780	123	91.90	3,700
2016	8,831	187	102.03	4,700
2017	11,693	559	165.37	5,500
2018	15,794	1,211		7,100

Fact 5:

Netflix ranked 261 on the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States companies by revenue.^[114]

Fact 6:

Netflix's shares traded at over $400 per share at its highest price in 2018, and its market capitalization reached a value of over US$180 billion in June 2018.

Actionable Items

1. Based on Fact 2, I should look into those IPO companies, and find out which one is possible to be a S & P Index 500 company in 10 years or 20 years, why? 

2. Based on Fact 3, I have to push myself to learn technology and see how technology changes business run differently. Internet streaming traffic, the idea to copy from youtube.com, all those should be my job in order to build wealth and grow rich. I should be able to read and think, figure out how to invest early, and stay confident as an individual investor. 

3. Finance - I should learn to read finance, and then get some data first. I should learn from 

The MBA Summit 2018: What Employers Really Want From MBAs (Livestream)

Here is the video.

15:00 - 18:00

I like to take some notes from the talk.

DIY Business School for Entrepreneurs

Here is the article.

But what for the aspiring entrepreneur who doesn’t have the opportunity to attend a place like Acton, Darden or Harvard (top business schools which heavily or exclusively employ the case method)? Can you learn to run a business, using case method, without a supporting institution?

You can. As with any DIY solution, it’ll take a little more ingenuity and patience, but you can use the following basic ingredients to get started.

1. Find partners

2. Gather cases

3. Practice using basic analytical tools and vocabulary

4. Establish the rules of engagement

DIY business school for entrepreneurs - My business school

Sept. 19, 2019

I like to read more articles and figure out what I should do next.

DIY Business School for Entrepreneurs is my favorite to read.

What I like to do is to study business school by myself. I like to figure out how to make money on stock market, as an investor, and also look for best opportunity for me to contribute the economy as well. I like to see if I grow rich and build wealth first; meanwhile I like to analyze what is my best bet next month, next year.

One day I may have enough wealth to afford a business education. Based on my age, 53 years old, I think that it is better for me to learn how to get educated by myself first, and aslo share my journey to advance myself.

I like to learn first how Harvard business school learning method. Case study is such a good idea, but I need to figure out the things to check in order to have a good case study.

The MBA Summit 2018: How To Get Into A Top Business School (Livestream)

Here is the link.

Warren Buffett: “Really Successful People Say No To Almost Everything”

Here is the article.

The Math Behind The 5-Hour Rule: Why You Need To Learn 1 Hour Per Day Just To Stay Relevant

Here is the article.

The number of people creating and sharing ideas is growing exponentially. 30 years ago, the main people creating ideas were scientists, intellectuals, and thought leaders. With the advent of social media, millions of people are regularly creating and sharing their lessons learned.

The 10,000 Hour Rule shows us that it takes an incredible amount of time and effort to be world-class at anything. The half life of facts shows us that it takes an incredible amount of diligence to stay great in a rapidly changing field. In some ways, learning is like lifting weights. It takes a lot of effort to put on muscle. Then, we need to keep working out (all be it less hard) to keep that muscle on.

9 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy for Every Investor - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Current Dividend Yield: 2.9%

If you love stable dividend stocks, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is one of the best dividend stocks to buy. It is the powerhouse brand of powerhouse brands. Better yet, JNJ is levered toward the ultimate in non-cyclical  industries: healthcare. Selling consumer-level products, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices, JNJ is one of the most respected companies in the world.

Currently, Johnson & Johnson’s dividend yield is 2.9%. But what people may not immediately appreciate is that JNJ can also surprise people in the capital markets. For instance, since mid-2015, shares are up nearly 40%.

Critically for conservative investors, JNJ rarely loses. Between 1970 to the end of 2018, annual returns average almost 15%. Moreover, JNJ only hit red ink 14 times, meaning that 72% of the time, you can expect shares to win.

In our business, that’s as close to a sure thing as you’re gonna get!

The 10 Best Stock last 10 year bull market - #5 Best: Netflix

MARKET VALUE: $157.0 billion

10-YEAR CHANGE: 6,438.4%

It’s no surprise that Netflix (NFLX, $359.61) has earned a spot on a list of the market’s top performers for the past 10 years. The company has not only ushered in the era of streaming video – it largely defined it.

That wasn’t necessarily the future that investors or consumers saw for Netflix as of the beginning of 2009. Yes, it had already offered streaming digital for a couple of years by that point, but it still was predominantly a mail-based DVD rental house that continued to compete with a weakened but lingering Blockbuster and its peers. The market was curious, but it didn’t see Netflix’s new project as a major threat to the well-entrenched cable television providers.

Talk about being wrong.

Today, Netflix is the streaming name to beat, boasting 146.5 million subscribers and flaunting itself as a provider to a majority of U.S. video viewers that subscribe to some sort of streaming platform. As of the middle of last year, 51% of the U.S. streaming market was paying Netflix customers, while the next nearest rival was Amazon Prime at a 33% share. Although many U.S. cord cutters now subscribe to two or more streaming video platforms, most of them are choosing Netflix as at least one of their services.

Actionable Items

Lessons I learn from Netflix stock watch

1. How to conduct research on a tech company?
2. How soon should I start? 
2002 -> 2019 17 years
2019, Sept. 18, it is the first time I check the price. 

2. How early I I knew Netflix?
I started to subscribe service 5 years ago, and then I stopped one year ago. 

3. Over five years ago, I learn that Netflix has highest salary for software engineers. 

I have to write down my journey from careless investor Dec. 2018, and then started personal finance research, and then April 2019 I started to go back to stock market, put all my funds in and learn to cut time to watch, and be a healthy investor. 

Sept. 18, 2019 is the first day I search Google to find out top performance stocks last 20 years. 

These 3 Stocks Are Up Over 500% in the Last 5 Years - Netflix

Nimble Netflix

Netflix tops this list of high-performing stocks, posting gains of well over 1,000% since mid-2013. The streaming video giant has successfully reinvented itself over its longer history, pivoting away from the dying DVD-rental business and instead embracing technological advances that made it possible for viewers to watch their preferred entertainment options more quickly and efficiently. Having made huge inroads in the U.S. market, Netflix then turned its attention overseas, where it found an equally hungry audience for its content and distribution services.

One of Netflix's biggest challenges has been obtaining high-quality content to show to its viewers. Although the streaming service has made successful partnership deals with many outside content providers, Netflix also found it worthwhile to start working on developing its own original content. That's been an expensive up-front proposition, but it has also created cost savings on the back end that should keep paying off for decades to come. Critical acclaim has also shown that the upstart could successfully carve out a niche despite Hollywood's long reign over the movie and television production arena.

Even with Netflix having raised subscription prices on a fairly regular basis, its value proposition is still a lot more attractive than traditional cable television. As more people cut the cord, attractive price points should give Netflix a competitive advantage that it can use as leverage well into the future, producing further potential share gains in the years to come.

These 3 Stocks Are Up Over 500% in the Last 5 Years - Facebook

Fantastic Facebook

Facebook's gains over the past five years have been more impressive even than Amazon's, with the social media giant posting a return of almost 750% over that time frame. Much of that rise came after a disappointing debut for Facebook in the public stock market, with its shares plunging after its 2012 initial public offering amid worries about the service's viability as the tech industry shifted from its previous desktop focus toward mobile devices. Yet Facebook came up with growth strategies extremely well, with purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp having received criticism at the times they were made yet proving to be highly successful over the ensuing years. A well-executed transition toward a viable version of the service for mobile devices kept Facebook relevant even as mobile proliferated, and a focus on optimizing its ability to offer targeted digital advertising to its multi-billion member user base continues to pay off well for the company.

Recent challenges have made a dent in Facebook's share price recently, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the European Union's enactment of its General Data Protection Regulations to support user privacy. Some investors also fear that the advertising market might be approaching the saturation point, limiting Facebook's potential future growth, and that generational shifts might make Facebook less attractive to younger users. Yet by embracing Instagram, Facebook has shown that it can develop and promote other services to meet users' needs even if its namesake service ceases to have the appeal it initially had. That will be critical in driving future share-price gains.

These 3 Stocks Are Up Over 500% in the Last 5 Years - Amazon

Amazing Amazon

Amazon has given investors powerful long-term returns, with the stock's 535% gain since mid-2013 being just the latest part of an impressive rise that has made the company one of the most successful stocks in the market over the past 15 years. From its modest roots as an online bookstore, Amazon has pivoted not just to extend its retail reach across just about the entire universe of available goods but also to provide a host of nonretail services. Cloud computing, streaming video, and technological advances like the Kindle reader and Echo smart speakers have given Amazon exposure to some of the highest-growth areas of the tech sector. Acquisitions like the Whole Foods purchase have extended Amazon's reach into the physical-store world, and use of its newly acquired real estate opens up some new opportunities for the e-commerce giant to improve distribution efficiency.

Some investors fear that Amazon might be reaching its peak. But the company still has a number of growth avenues still open, including international expansion and further development of cutting-edge technology. In those areas, Amazon faces extensive competition, and traditional retailers have also fought back to embrace the e-commerce revolution and find ways to get their once-loyal customers to shop with them again. Add to that Amazon's past ability to come up with needs that its users didn't even realize they had, and there should be plenty more room for the tech giant to grow in the years to come.

The 5 Best-Performing Stocks in the Past 20 Years - Alphabet

Alphabet

Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is the company that owns Google and the diverse group of former operations under the Google umbrella. Founded in 1998, the company began generating revenues from search advertising technology as it rose to dominate the Internet search market. In addition to dominating Internet search advertising globally, Google added a large number of different offerings to its business portfolio, even branching into unrelated industries, such as life sciences. It also acquired the mobile operating system Android, which is the most widely used mobile OS in the world as of 2016. When the company had its initial public offering (IPO) in August 2004, shares were $50.22 when adjusted for splits and dividends. As of Feb, 12, 2016, shares are $706.36, for a compounding annual return of 25.6%. Alphabet is now one of the world's largest companies, with a market cap of $485 billion.

The 5 Best-Performing Stocks in the Past 20 Years - Apple

Here is the article.

Apple

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a well-known computer company that rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s before experiencing a protracted decline the early and mid-1990s. In 1996, Apple shares were trading at 91 cents, adjusting for stock splits and dividends. After successfully designing and marketing popular products, such as the iPod, MacBook, iPhone and iPad, and creating disruptive associated software, such as iTunes and the App Store, shares are worth $93.99 as of Feb. 12, 2016, appreciating 26.1% on a compounding annual basis. As of early 2016, Apple is the largest publicly traded company in the world, and its market cap is $520 billion.

What I can learn from Bianca Andreescu - US open champion?

Sept. 18, 2019

Introduction

It is very easy for me to learn from tennis professionals. I learn from tennis professionals and learn how to overcome so many issues in terms of my problem solving. Every time I have some issues, I always spend time to take break, follow tennis WTA players and learn from them. How hard they face in their career?

What I can learn from Bianca?

I like to learn from Bianca how she advanced her ranking from 2018 Sept. 210 to ranking No. 5, and won three champions in 2019.

Mental capacity
Mental capacity
Mental capacity

Some of them stopped after a few success, but Bianca questioned herself, why not me? She beat all of them, she never lost a set the whole year.

Katherine Tamminen - sports psychology

I like to spend 10 to 20 minutes to look into the professor's profile.

What drives Bianca Andreescu to be a champion? | In-Depth

Here is the video.

After Bianca Andreescu’s victory at the U.S. Open, we have an in-depth look into the mentality and the drive that lifted her over tennis legend Serena Williams.

Three guests:

Katherine Tamminen - sports psychology
University of Toronto

Donnovan Bennett
Host & Writer, Sportsnet

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Questions in the video:
How do you create a champion?
1. How to win the mental game?
2. Who does a champion need?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

August 27, 2018

US open
Rank 210

Sept 2019
Rank 5

Her personality - no one gets her way
Raw talent - you should talk this way

Internal dialog - the way she plays - unguarded - sense of ... organic


Desire to win - nature she is done with the injury

Rational confident - as good as it is be. Why not me?
Different mental capacity

How to win the mental game?

Focus on training. Focus on the task on the hand.

Do not think about gold medal.

She has a lot of time off. Mental energy -

Think about task. Task takes care of goal.

mediation, self-awareness,

Parents, coach helps athlete ... think through the facts

Listen to the kids -

What is a village? What is village need to provide for that athlete?
Tennis Canada - her strength, her need

Get organized - interviewing.io interviewer

Sept. 17, 2019

Introduction

I feel that it is so important for me to play part of global economy to work on interviewer every week day 10:00 PM on interviewing.io. I help people to learn and also I have ways to find competitive problems solvers to learn from, and also help hard working people to meet the challenging of problem solving. I enjoy the life to be an interviewer. But I need to get organized.

One idea to try

I like to put together a github folder to contain all transcripts of last two years over 200 mock interviews. One thing I like to dive deep is how to be a better interviewer, write down things clearly. But first, I need to save those transcripts first, and then look into issues I can find.

Here is the github repository.

Case study: word ladder - find all paths

Sept. 17, 2019

Introduction

It is my 10:00 PM mock interview. I like to explore the algorithm and learn from all kinds of mistakes related to the algorithm.

Case study

Here is the transcript.

Actionable Items

I am very experienced to help interviewee to reduce anxiety. Usually at the very beginning, I will say that "I will ask you a graph algorithm. If you need hint, please let me know. Otherwise, we can move to an easy one, tree algorithm.". 

Also I need to find ideas to encourage the discussion, cover basic needs in terms of implementation, like path variable need to design remove action besides insertion. 

I should have spent 10 more minutes to break  the ice after the coding session, encourage the exchange of ideas, how to learn and work on algorithm problem solving in general. 

Case study: Word ladder - find all paths

Sept. 17, 2019

Introduction

It is very good learning experience for me. I met a talented young software engineer who wrote perfect solution in 45 minutes mock interview on Sept. 16, 2019. I like to write a short case study, what we discussed after the coding session, stack overflow, the longest path and concern of stack overflow.

Case study

Here is the page to contain the code written by the interviewee in Java programming language.

Actionable Items

I find that one thing is common. Very competitive software engineer is very independent. The interviewee likes to test the code using web compiler on interviewing.io, make sure that the code runs perfectly.

I also am surprised that they have super talent to come out the test case, and make the test cases more complete; and the interviewee tests all those test cases.

I just observe and learn from the interviewee when they do that.

Designing Machine Learning Models - A Tale of Precision and Recall

Here is the article. I plan to read the article and learn the basics of machine learning, how to apply it to work.

I start to follow her profile. I like to read more articles related to the area - machine learning models.

How well does NPS predict rebooking?

Here is the article.

Here is Lisa Qian's linkedin profile.

Beginning with Ourselves Using Data Science to Improve Diversity at Airbnb

Here is the article.

We decided to create a series of lightning talks featuring women in data, under the umbrella of the broader Airbnb “Taking Flight” initiative. The goals were twofold: to showcase the many contributions of women in the field, and to create a forum for celebrating the contributions of women to data science. At the same time, we wanted to highlight diversity on multiple dimensions. For each lightning talk, we created a panel of women from many different racial and ethnic backgrounds, practicing different types of data science. The talks were open to anyone who supported women in data science.

We came up with the title “Small Talks, Big Data” and started with an event in November 2014 where we served food and created a space and time for mingling. The event sold out, with over 100 RSVPs. Afterward we ran a survey to see what our attendees thought we could improve in subsequent events and turned “Small Talks, Big Data” into a series, all of which have continued to sell out. Given this level of interest, several of the women on our team volunteered to write blog posts about their accomplishments (for example, Lisa’s analysis of NPS and Ariana’s overview of machine learning) in order to circulate their stories beyond San Francisco, and to give talks and interviews (for example, Get to know Data Science Panelist Elena Grewal). Many applicants to our team have cited these talks and posts as inspirations to consider working at Airbnb.

How I Made It: Elena Grewal leads Airbnb’s data scientists

Here is the article.

Getting in: To get into data science, it helps to have a questioning and logical mind, Grewal said. She also recommends training in statistics, computer programming and developing strong communications skills. But there’s no need for a degree to start analyzing data, and anyone interested in doing it should start doing it on their own, she said. “When I was in my PhD program, I was blogging about my work and doing fun analyses on the side,” Grewal said. “It was a great way for me to learn about different ways to do data analysis, and it helped me get a job because people could see what I’d done.”

One Data Science Job Doesn’t Fit All

Here is the article written by Head of Data Science at Airbnb. 

The worst case if you invest in a hot stock market

Here is the article.

Worst case scenario: In nearly 90 years of market history, if you bought stocks on the absolute worst day, the average time to make your money back was 3 years. That's less time than it takes most people to get through high school or college. It's doable. It shouldn't make you shy away from investing in stocks.

The big crashes: Take the 2008 financial crisis. If you got in at the peak, it would have taken 5.5 years to recoup your money.

Want to feel even gloomier: If you invested the day before the 1929 crash, it would have taken you 25 years to be back in the positive. That's a long time, even for a "long-term investor."

And most people understand the need to diversify. While they own a lot of stocks -- a main driver of growth in portfolios over time -- they also own some bonds and other investments like real estate. A more balanced portfolio shouldn't fall as much during the downturns and thus should be able to bounce back faster.

Can you really time the market? As much as investors want to be sure to get out of the market before it drops, an even worse problem is not being in the market when it's going up. If you've been sitting mostly in cash in the past six years, you've really lost out.

Missing the upswings is more of a Rambo-style nightmare to your portfolio than missing the downturns.

"You have to get two decisions right: You have to get out at the right time and get in at the right time," says Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at BBH. "And human nature is to get both decisions wrong."

Actionable Items

Can you really time the market? I do not think that I can do that. I set up Victoria and Key Largo two portfolio in May 2019. 

SPDR Gold Shares

• Ticker: GLD
• Expense ratio: 0.40%
• Morningstar rating: unrated
• YTD performance: -0.5%
• Five-year performance: -6%

Gold prices tend to spike when investors fear that disaster is imminent.

So owning physical gold often sounds like a great insurance policy in theory. However, physical gold can be difficult to transport and expensive to store.

That's why some people like the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), which attempts to reflect the performance of the price of gold minus expenses.

Yet the yellow metal's ETF hasn't paid off lately. It's the worst-performing ETF on this list, falling 6% over the past five years.