I was told many years ago when I came upon a perplexing problem, not to dwell on how it happened. I needed to ask myself what's more important " How did the jackass get in the ditch or what are you going to do to get him out"? I find myself down about 8.5 % with the big sell off of the market these past few days. I'm thinking that many of us have stocks and bonds through employer 401 plans, Roth IRA's, individual accounts etc. Maybe some of us have never owned stocks and bonds and we wonder if this might be a time to get involved. Some talking heads are saying "Sell" while others are saying "Buy" and others are saying "sit tight". I'm interested in getting a feel for what the political forum members might be doing in the next few days.
Don't listen to the pundits on TV. They know nothing. What did I do? My stock allocation went below my re-balancing band, so I bought a few thousand $ of VTSAX yesterday to re-balance. Other than that, I'll do nothing in addition to buying according to my pre-determined asset allocation every two weeks when I get my paycheck. Tune out the noise and enjoy the ride. Buy and hold is the ONLY strategy that works.
That's always been a good Fund. I use to own it many years ago. I have the QQQ and SPY. Not sure if I'm ready to add to them yet. I added a little to my HD Friday. Thx Quantum.
I'm sitting on a fairly sizable discretionary fund that has been waiting for an opportunity like this. I'm monitoring things closely and when it looks like the panic is dying down I'm buying in. This is a huge money making opportunity.
I did what you did. I sold on Wednesday with about 67k in loss and parked it in bonds at a 1.75% rate. It's not making much but it's not losing either. I lost about 40% in 08 and didn't want to do that again. I lost less than I made this year so far so it's not a big deal.
I did that in 2008 and 2016 and rode it all the way to here. Not sure we will turn around as quickly this time. Thx for the input.
With these computer generated programs it isn't quite as easy to figure when to get back in. I hate zero interest on cash but better safe than sorry. Thx LogNDog.
Economic fundamentals are strong. When this panic dies down or a vaccine is on the horizon I believe the market will roar back but that is assuming Sanders or any of the other socialist don't end up in the Whitehouse. Then my money stays in the bank.
I’m not touching my 401K. The market will rebound. It’s always been “two steps forward, one step back”.
I have plenty time before retirement to wait for the rebound, so steady as she goes. Actually, the one thing I am doing is waiting to fully pay back a loan I took out from my 401k early last year. A small amount is automatically paid back with each pay check, but I was close to just paying the full thing back two weeks ago. Probably best to wait until the bloodshed stops now.
Bought some more Philip Morris International. People are nervous and are going to smoke more overseas.
I'm on the fence. I took out some of my RMD from my 401k before this started. But I still have the rest and my wife's to go. I think I'll watch it Monday and get the rest if it looks like another down day.
With Bernie comming around the pike as well, I am taking my earnings and waiting out the 20 year recovery from the comming mistake.
Folks, don't panic sell, locking in your losses. Remember, when you time the market, you have to be right twice, once when you sell, and again when you get back in. Even IF you get the selling right, how do you know when to get back in? How do you know that selling last week was the right thing to do? The market could rebound quickly, if the outbreak gets under control. Then, you have locked in your losses and don't know when to get back in. Stay the course, it is the only way.
No idea what your point is here. The reason I pulled out is because of supply chain concerns. The market lost more than 10% in one week. It's not a normal "adjustment".
I have been doing this for 30 years. I remember losing 40 plus % in 2008. Everyone said, "Stay the course, It's a normal adjustment." Not gonna do that again.This isn't a normal adjustment. A lot of people were saying this was a normal adjustment on Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday they were saying that it wasn't.
And what fundamentals are those? Near zero interest rates? Out of control budget deficits? Record consumer debt? Always a sign of a burgeoning economy </sarcasm>
So, I guess that you didn't sell in 2008? That was s good choice, the market recovered in only four years, and then some. Now, since you sold last week, you have to think about when you'll get back in? When will that be? And how will you know when is the right time?
