Sitting on 90% cash, watching the other 10% go down, and ready to get back in when the time is right.
Unfortunately if cash is in the bank there is a risk to banks collapsing losing your money you have above the guaranteed return. I also have cash in the bank way above the protected amount and was looking at investing in perhaps gold but I've never done that before
I'm with you. Was also considering gold, but not sure how to do that. Cash is in Fidelity moneymarkets and Prudential Guaranteed Income fund.
I went from 10% cash to 30% cash today. Wish I had done it earlier. This has been a really nasty sell-off and there seems to be no end in sight yet.
I expect the market to continue to collapse. All of the entertainment, tourist, transportation stocks will fall. The whole State of Nevada will become unique because it will soon fall into a localized (one State) depression. How will the government handle that?
At my age, I'm more interested in preservation of capital than growth, so I went up to 40% cash today, which still leaves me with 60% exposure to the markets.
I'm lucky I got out when I did. For you, not sure what is best - try to ride it out since you are still 60% in, or sell more at low prices. Hope it all works out for the best.
I went 40% cash back in Oct. as that would fund my retirement, with SS, for 10 years. Everything else let it ride and have the experts pick certain stocks to ride it out and then reinvest once this is over. My 401k, still working, is still be invested in my targeted age funds which were already leaning towards cash instruments and safer equities.
I spent about $500 last week to test if I could ride the market back up. If things started looking up, I'd dump some of my savings into the market. Given the past few days of trading, I'm not ready to commit to that as of yet.
The problem is not just getting out. You already missed out on the best point to get out, which was three weeks ago. Why? because nobody can time the market. Now, you locked in yours losses, and the next difficulty is when to get back in. That's where most market timers fail and wait too long, so they end up buying high and selling low.
For those who are young and earn a steady income I'd agree with you. However, my time horizon is shorter, so I rely more upon gross portfolio value than I do growth. With the type of market we're witnessing now, I feel comfortable with 40% in cash, along with a broad based asset allocation portfolio.
Here is what you said almost three weeks ago on March 1st. Here is your post today: I am extremely glad that I didn't listen to your clap trap nonsense two weeks ago and stay in. You have absolutely no freaking clue what the hell you are talking about when it comes to the market. On March 2 the market was at 26703. Today the market is at 21237. That's a lost of 5,466 points that anyone would have lost if they had taken your advice. That's 20% in less than a month. That would have been 200k out of my pocket. How's the market treating you? I bet you don't have anything invested. Just stop already.
My posts have been totally consistent, namely that market timing doesn't work. That's why I haven't sold anything, and I will not sell, knowing full well that the drop may not be over yet. Or,it may be over, and the market will recover quickly, with the proposed stimulus package. The truth is I don't know, you don't know, nobody knows. Now you may have been lucky getting out at the right time, but for market timing to work, you also have to be right when you get back in. How do you know when the bottom is reached? Tell me, so we can double check if you were right in the future. Folks don't listen to the market timers, it is bad for your financial health.
A bunch of wealthy people were asked what they did with their money back around 08 when it all took a dive. The said they didn't lose anything because they did NOTHING. Lesson learned folks.
Con men are manipulating the stock market. They cause a steep drop one day, buy up the depressed stocks, and sell them at a big profit the next day and repeat the process day after day. They become super wealthy that way while the average person gets wiped out.
And you continue to pretend that you know what you are talking about. If you really do have money in the market you deserve to lose the big chunk that you lose. If a person plays stupid games they win stupid prizes. This market isn't recovering until the economy has leveled out and that isn't until the pandemic is over, people are back to work and businesses are open again. Chances are that we are headed into a recession. I will sit on my money and you will continue to lose.
Before you call people stupid, I'd recommend to read up yourself on the subject. This is a good place to start: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads'_Guide_To_Investing Now, so we can check your market timing skills for the future, why don't you tell us at which exact price point of the Dow you sold. Then, tell us when you intend to get back in. And, no, saying "chances are that we are still in a recession" won't cut it. You got to give us numbers, not feelings. My guess? you don't even know yourself when to get back in. Why? because neither you, nor anyone else, will know when the bottom is reached. And after the bottom is reached, and you missed it, you'll continue waiting for a good time to get back in. Unfortunately, that good time will never come, until it already is too late and you ended up selling low and buying high, while missing out on market gains. Don't say you haven't been warned. Finally, I see that you play the typical Trump fan game of projection, i.e. thinking that people who are opposed to trump must be (insert one of the following) stupid, lazy, not have a job, have no money, can't possibly be investors. I tell you what I think: Those who talk and brag most about money usually have the least.
I didn't sway you were stupid. The projection is on your end. I said you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to stocks, which you don't. I already told you which point I sold. Is reading hard? And you still presume to know what other people are going to do based on some crystal ball that you have while stating that nobody can know the future, oh, except you and your crystal ball. Hold on to your pants. The market is due for another drop today. I'm not going to lose a dime.
You sold which Wed, the 4th or the 11th? Either way, you already lost 10% or 20%. So, that already should tell you that you were unable to know where the top was. If you had been able to know where the top was, you would have sold three weeks ago, but you didn't. Now, what makes you think that you'll be able to know where the bottom is? I tell you what, you won't know that either. For all we know, we already could have reached the bottom already last weekend. Look, I am not claiming I know what I am doing. I know what I don't know, which is when the market will top or bottom. That's why I buy and hold, it takes the emotional decision of when to sell and when to buy out of the picture. For the vast majority of investors, buy and hold will have better long-term returns than timing the market. In the meantime, I rebalance to stay with my asset allocation of 55/45, which I have decided is a good ratio for someone of my age and risk tolerance. I also continue to buy equities every two weeks I receive my paycheck. This way, I hopefully buy some stock at discount. This has worked for me in 2008, it will hopefully work for me now. Or, we could become the next Japan with decades of the stock market going sideways. Nobody knows. What we do know, however, is that market timing doesn't work. Check out the bogleheads.org forum, it could be eye opening.
How I am handling it..... I bought an extra house. So I own just 2 now. The total amount of mortgage is 350 bucks on it. Because you know... I hate debt. Debt is the poison so to speak. The stock exchange is a house for gamblers. Nothing wrong with gambling. My advise is: when it's all over. If you're not going to go for real estate,.. go for gold. Gold always increases in value. And in times of crisis... the market value goes through the roof, unlike stocks who drop through the floor. And it's nice to know that in a crisis... your money is save and is increasing in value. That... and don't be in debt. People make money on your debt, meaning.. you're loosing. Pay your debts. Try to live without a credit card as much as you can. I only apply for one so I can rent a car sometimes. When done renting... I just cancel the card asap. Not going to pay for that when I dont use it. I got an ATM card... I pay in cash if needed, rather transfer money online.
BTW: If you had stayed the course in 2008, you wouldn't have "lost" 40%. You would have recovered the "loss" within 3-4 years, and then some. And in those 3-4 years you would have bought stock on a discount.
I did stay the course in 2008. You don't pay very good attention do ya? I already said that in a previous post. It did take 3 years to gain it BACK. If I would have pulled out and put it away for a year I would have been ahead even more. It's not that hard to understand. As I stated before, twice, I pulled out on Feb. 26 with a 67k loss. If I would have stayed in my portfolio would be 225,000 lower than it is right now. It won't be hard to time when to get back in when the market is down more than 30% more than it was when I pulled out.
