VTI is up ~200% since the bottom. If he bought (dollar cost averaging) and held. Probably feels great.
He would feel great now. Just wondering his attitude when his "savings" dropped ~50% 2008-2009. Most people can't handle saving a million dollars over 25 years and have it drop in half over 6 months. The pain is too much. Avoiding this situation (and other reasons) is why pensions are better for most people.
The best way I ever heard it described was "the market is on sale right now".
So you invested in the run up to the crash as well? Or only started investing in 2009+ (also known as a sweet summer child :)