Let's see.....
2008, lost money, my wife saw her shares and options in her employer (accumulated over several years) vaporise, I had a highly stressful exit from my previous job, expenses rocketed as our children started school, I had three separate sports injuries and we adopted a kitten which added to our expenses by shredding the sofa (all three scratching posts are in "as new" condition). Apart from the cat, it was a pretty bad year all round
2009, my best year ever for investments, my new job is working out great, the wife is much happier now that she is a SAHM, health was good in the immediate family and the cat is now shredding other furniture (the scratching posts remain "as new"). A brilliant year all round
2010 so long as my investments at least tread water, I will be on track to hit my retirement number at the end of 2011. So long as the family's health is good and I can sell the unused scratching posts to some other sucker, the bar does not have to be very high for 2010 to qualify as a good year. If the bar is set at 2009 levels, disappointment is a very real possibility