Do retirement accounts have any protections the way the FDIC does for bank accounts?

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Mindful of several ideas

Beware of investing in stocks, index funds, ETFs at the top. 1929, 1951 (I think, off the top of my head), 1968, 2001, were intermediate term peaks that took years or decades to recover. From 1968 to 1982 returns were zero. Not to say certain stocks weren't good investments. McDonalds 1968 delivered stellar gains. So did utilities, precious metals, energy. The list goes on. Nike 1982. Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Applied Materials early 1990s. Best Buy, 1999 or so. Even Boston Beer, Green Mountain Coffee, and some big Pharma.

Companies that become big name growth stocks can be a good investment at any time. Indexed funds are to be avoided at the peak.

When the markets are beaten up, when crashes are headlines, when Wall Street firms are laying off thousands - that's the time to buy index funds and blue chip growth stocks. It takes expertise and experience to do the latter. Real stock brokers can have a solid place in any investment plan.