Correction vs. crash

On the stock market there are different degrees of price decline – and it's important to tell them apart:

Dip (5–10%): normal fluctuation, happens several times a year. No reason to worry.

Correction (10–20%): on average once a year. Often seen as a "healthy market clean-up". Historically, the recovery takes 4–6 months.

Bear market / crash (20%+): on average every 5–7 years. Can last 1–3 years. Recovery takes 1–5 years (rarely longer).

For long-term investors: corrections and crashes are buying opportunities, not reasons to panic. Anyone who has invested regularly in the MSCI World for 50 years has come through EVERY crisis and multiplied their money. The only people who lost out were those who sold in a panic.