Unless, of course, you mostly care about the cash flow paid out by your portfolio.
My current (dividend growth) holdings would have paid out 16% less in dividends in 2009 (vs. 2008), 3% more in 2010 (vs. 2009) and only surpassed the 2008 dividends again in 2011 (3.9% higher than in 2008).
In contrast, the valuation of said custody account tanked a little over 52% from peak in June 2007 to trough in March 2009 and took until May 2013 (six years!) to return to its June 2007 valuation.
