Pollyanna investors are occasionally crushed by real bear markets and super bears tend to miss most of the long-term growth in capital that stocks can provide. Finding the right middle ground of intelligent risk-taking is part of the “art” of investing. Stock picking mistakes and occasional market corrections are inevitable. There will even be (very) occasional major bear markets like 1973-74 and 2008-09. The trick is to hold portfolios of strong companies that can compound value over long periods of time and to minimize permanent loss of capital in the down markets.