Depends. Pennies from 1920? Beat inflation. $20 coin from 1924 ($20 was worth an ounce of gold, so it was just an ounce gold goin)? Beat inflation.

Dollar bill from 1922? Lose, but mostly because the fed reneged on their obligation of gold backing.

I believe If you held 100 years from 1805 to 1905 there wasn't much inflation at all.

So it really depends.

Not during the last 100 years, for the last 100 years.

The whole point is you have no clue when the bear market will end, and a lot of the recovery happens in the first few days (or sometimes even just the one day) of the new bull market.

Trying to pull in or out means you miss out on the best gain days.