A Dip or a Blip?

[imoldernu]

My portfolio is teeny... not a big thing, but I'd love to hear from my more financially savvy friends, how they see the future of the market... For simplicity, the DJIA.
Not the reason, and no politics, but just your personal thinking about the future.
Tomorrow... One Month... One Year... Five years.

As I type... DJIA -$279.

And... maybe one more thing...
What, if anything would cause you to make a change in your current basic plan... ie. how big a dip? %?

 

[Fedup]

Who knows?

 

[RobbieB]

Who cares?

 

[jimbee]

On average, up.

 

[Whisper66]

No one knows. But we all make some kind of assumptions, possibly VERY general assumptions, that we base our investment decisions on. Here's mine

Looking at the big picture, I assume the market will continue to go up over time. Wouldn't be invested in it if I didn't think that. I'm hoping to get 5% real return per year over the next several years but my happiness does not count on it. My budget will adjust as needed if market returns are really bad.

Shorter term, I expect and plan for dips in the market. "Normal" dips of 10-20% wouldn't surprise me at all, anytime. However, our retirement financial plans assume we might have a much bigger dip (40%) maybe once in the next 8 yrs or so that we have to be able to handle without selling off equities at a loss. Since our plans include expectation of such dips, don't see us changing anything if they occur.

 

[exnavynuke]

My portfolio is teeny... not a big thing, but I'd love to hear from my more financially savvy friends, how they see the future of the market... For simplicity, the DJIA.
Not the reason, and no politics, but just your personal thinking about the future.
Tomorrow... One Month... One Year... Five years.

As I type... DJIA -$279.

And... maybe one more thing...
What, if anything would cause you to make a change in your current basic plan... ie. how big a dip? %?

Tomorrow -??
One month - ??
One year - ??
Five year - probably up.

Total economic collapse in the US would cause me to change my basic plan. Short of that, automatic rebalancing and DCA is good enough for me.

 

[rodi]

Sure there's a big drop today... and it might be part of a larger correction. If it changes enough - I'll rebalance. Same as if it went up by a lot.

 

[RetireAge50]

No change in strategy regardless of dips, blips, flips. Basically take what I have left and divide by years I have left.

 

[dvalley]

Over 5 yrs it's less than a blip...

 

[steveark]

History says there should be at least a correction and more likely a bear market in the next two or three years because this bull market has gone on for longer than most or all past bulls. For this reason I'm sitting on a pot of cash that normally I'd have put in the market already. If the market drops I'll buy stock, if it moves sideways I'll slowly buy stock and if it keeps climbing I'll have to admit I was wrong, but it won't hurt much since I don't need the money.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

300 points in a 20,000 point DOW is peanuts. Not even worth Talking about. Come back when it is 2000 points down and we can talk.

 

[easysurfer]

This might be the beginning of the "sell in May and go away". But who knows?

 

[Dash man]

Be very diversified. It's going to be a wild ride. Where it ends up is anybody's guess.

 

[FIREd]

I have been too busy with our house renovation to keep track of the market or anything else. I am letting my investments ride for now.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I did not hear about the drop until I saw this thread because I was busy power washing my deck. I don't follow the daily fluctuations of the market as I have no plans to deviate from my AA.

I have three years of living expenses in cash and short term bonds before I have to sell something....

 

[Nightcap]

The market always goes up, over the long haul. Short haul, it can be a rough ride. When I retired a couple years ago, I did so with a chunk of cash as a hedge against sequence-of-returns risk. I began drawing from my IRA last year, selling a bit at each new high to replenish my cash. In the (highly unlikely) event of another Great Recession, I'm just going to leave my IRA alone until the market recovers.

Funny thing: we've gotten used to a very placid market. Today it's suddenly a little volatile and the financial press is sounding Fear! Fire! Foes! This ain't nuthin'

 

[marko]

300 points in a 20,000 point DOW is peanuts. Not even worth Talking about. Come back when it is 2000 points down and we can talk.

+1
But I did make a (very) small buy on this dip. Every dip I try to grab a small deal.

I see the market going up in general with perhaps some more buying opportunities along the way.

 

[OldShooter]

... the future.
Tomorrow... One Month... One Year... Five years.

No clue ... No Clue ... No Clue ... Probably higher than today.

... What, if anything would cause you to make a change in your current basic plan... ie. how big a dip? %?

2,000 point drop I'm thinking seriously about buying. >3,000 point drop I am definitely a buyer.

I am never a seller on a market drop. That is the buy-high, sell-low strategy that is the hallmark of naive amateurs.

 

[IMATERP]

1000 or 2000 point gain or drop would not change my allocation percentage. I like and understand my investments. I have enough cash/future pension dollars that I wouldn't need to sell any stocks/funds for quite some time.

 

[DrRoy]

Nobody knows, but I vote blip.

 

[dvalley]

I just checked VTSAX and VFINX which are showing -0.05% change today when the major indexes are showing -1.xx%

Price as of 05/16/2017 $60.06
Change –$0.03 –0.05%

 

[SecondCor521]

I vote for short (<3 months) blip. Not because I think that will happen, but because that is what I want to happen.

Predictions: Same as everyone else here - nobody knows in the short term, probably higher in the long term.

If it drops "a lot" I would reallocate from bonds to stocks. I'm not sure what the absolute drop would be, but I cap my bond allocation at 10%, so if if rises above that I'll reallocate. (As of last night I was at 8.38%.)

 

[retire2020]

Regardless of what happens in market on daily basis, I rebalance my AA once a year around end of the year after final distribution of CG/DIV.

 

[dixonge]

I recently completed my portfolio reshuffle. As in, yesterday. Sure would have been nice to be making those purchases this afternoon instead!

So, you're welcome?

Hey, is the top in yet? lol

 

[pb4uski]

+1 although I have been rebalancing a little more frequently as a defensive move because I perceive the market to be a bit frothy.