Why is it a goal to meet previous high stock prices?

"It took decades for the market to reach its 1929 peak." "So?"

A reader on X commented that it took decades for the market to match its 1929 high. My comment to him was basically, “So?”

He said he is 35 years old and here is my response to him.

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Compound interest is on your side since you have so much time. Diversify investment classes. The big three are stocks, bonds, and commercial real estate. There are more. They all have different cycles of ups and downs. Own them all and leave your money in for a few more decades. I did and it worked out great. I did it all in my 401k and a Roth account I started. I didn't pick individual stocks until about age 55, and then I used a value-investment strategy.

For me, I started my career in the energy-crisis depression of the late 1970s and bought my first house with an 11% mortgage. I graduated from college, got a good-paying job, fell in love and got married, and we bought a house. In my personal life I really didn’t notice we were in a financial depression.

Over the next three houses I refinanced every time the rates dropped a couple of percentage points, ending up under 4% at the end of house payments. My working years as an employee included the 1999 dot-com bust and the 2008 real estate bust. And the run-ups immediately after. It worked out fine.