<prompt> Human: I keep seeing posts or references to how people lost everything in 2008.Is this because they sold their investments at a loss? Were they invested in single companies that went under?Im asking because as I get more and more invested these stories freak me out. With a target date fund will I be okay if when then market tanks again?  <response>: All the comments here are not wrong, but they are missing a very important part of a market downturn especially 2008, and that is job loss. Most people who ended up in foreclosure during the 08 crisis were not real-estate speculators, but instead people who lost their jobs because of the ripple effect caused by the speculators. The entire economy tanked and those folks who lost their jobs hand to turn to 401ks and investment portfolios to get by, thus locking in the losses. It is not as simple as saying, for example, Quite a few people literally lost everything because they were in a house they could barely afford.Much of that is true, but most people could afford their homes when they had jobs... the jobs just went away... 