This is how papers across the country headlined the stock market plunge of Monday, October 19, 1987. This is how papers across the country headlined the stock market plunge of Monday, October 19, 1987. "I watched my entire life savings drop by 50% during the crash of 2008," he told Business Insider earlier this month. And it apparently has, as Goetzmann's research has found that fear of a rapid decline is pervasive among investors. "But I held my breath and just said, 'Well, I'll stick with what the long-term data show us about the stock market.'"