Yes, it is....I was planning to retire in January, and I may now defer that a bit...or not!
In my last few months of working back in late 2008, the crashing markets turned out to be a big benefit to not only the start of my ER but the entire first 10 years of it.
All year long, I had been watching closely the NAV of the bond fund I had chosen to produce enough monthly dividends to cover my expenses. It had been fairly stable between $9 and $10 per share. But in September, its NAV began dropping (along with everything else out there!). This was a good sign, I thought.
And at the end of September, my company's ESOP announced its quarterly price. Because the shares were not publicly traded at the time, the stock price was determined once every 3 months. It took only a very small hit on 9/30, down 1.5%.
Then in October, I watched with some glee as the targeted bond fund's price continued to tumble. It fell to $8 and it kept falling. Remember Winthorpe and Valentine in "Trading Places" as they watched the price of FCOJ fall until they were ready to swoop in and buy at rock-bottom prices? That was me in October and early November when I finally received the money from cashing out the ESOP at its frozen 9/30 price.
By the time I bought into the bond fund, its NAV had fallen to $7.46, about 25% less than its August price of $9.30, the last time it had stabilized. Talk about a huge buying opportunity! All those extra shares have earned me an extra $240-$400 per month, every month in the last 10 years. And all because the market tanked and gave me a huge buying opportunity.
My overall portfolio had declined, of course, but that bounced back in 2009 and 2010; those 8,000 extra shares have always been mine.