Indeed. All investors have felt that sinking fear that perhaps...

Indeed. All investors have felt that sinking fear that perhaps they have missed something obvious when the SP sinks. Warren Buffet's Mr Market addressed that particular problem beautifully, and long term investors with a certain level of experience are able to look at the bigger picture.

A three year investment frame is short term to Mr Buffet, and it is that point which is nigh on impossible for the younger brigade to accept or understand, especially when they've come into the market with their bank of $10,000, a lot of it borrowed, and spend all day agonising over minute daily movements, forever raving blindly about conspiracies and capping and manipulation by mysterious forces and the dreaded "instos", as though they are privy to intimate information denied to the rest of us.

It's my belief that the market was a much more realistic barometer before every high school kid with pocket money had instant access to share prices, but in the long term, again, water finds its proper level regardless of the wild splashings of those drowning and yelling in it.

Good luck in your investments.