Of course not. But it helps if there's a burgeoning market precisely when one's portfolio is already large, from decades of accumulation, than when it's only small, when one has only recently been starting out. So for example, building off of your numbers, the fact that the market did fantastically well in 1999, in hindsight didn't much help you. But that it did so well in 2023, and at least so far in 2024, did. For a person who started no in 1998, but in 2018, these recent years won't be all the helpful, because such a person hasn't yet accumulated much.It hasn’t been a continuous bull since 1998, the year I got started.
Alternatively, had you started in 1978 instead if 1998, you'd have benefited from the 80s and 90s bull market... somewhat. But then came the "lost decade" - a harrowing and caustic time - just when your portfolio would have been, by accumulation, at its largest. Had you been interested in FIRE say around 2010, after then having had 32 years in the market, it would have been a frustrating self-assessment.