Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Black Monday 1987
Old 10-15-2017, 08:01 AM   #1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,120
Black Monday 1987

I'm sure several forum members remember October 19, 1987, aka Black Monday.

I was 22 years old and had just invested my life's savings into two different mutual funds on Thursday, October 15th. $10,000 hard earned dollars were worth about $6,000 the next week. I didn't sell and actually kept buying as I could and stuck to it. It hurt, but calm heads won. The only saving grace for me was that the MN Twins won the World Series, something I thought I'd never get to see.

Just a friendly pointer to young investors on the forum, there are going to be corrections in your investment lifetime, take them in stride and stay the course. It really does work.
Stormy Kromer is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 10-15-2017, 08:05 AM   #2
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 2,509
I remember that time. On the friday before it I bought short term CD with Merrill Lynch.
bingybear is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 08:19 AM   #3
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: W Colorado
Posts: 476
I was working brokerage in a S&L. I sold a lot of government bonds to your typical S&L clients who really thought they were diversifying from CD' s. They were all in a panic that day. When I called them back to tell them they made money, they were surprised. For some it was the first time that they really understood what they owned.
pjm-7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 08:34 AM   #4
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
MRG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
I vividly remember. I was in the IT industry supporting systems that tracked fund ownership. We had a SR VP come by and tell us volumes would likely go through the roof.

He was right.They did. We knew those systems like family, they had unique behaviors. That day they behaved like mad Chucky dolls, acting out in new and unusual ways.

How do you run out of resources you had to pretend exist? Actually this was a very good day for me professionally. I was the lucky guy who found a bit turned on that shouldn't have been. Made everything start working again. Raises were excellent that year.

I had retirement money in the market thanks to Megacorp. Could not sell it so letting it ride was the only option and the right one.
MRG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 08:37 AM   #5
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Senator's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Williston, FL
Posts: 3,925
I was a bartender, working a stock broker dinner. Out of ~35 people that were supposed to be in attendance, only three showed up.

I was in college and really did not have much invested.
__________________
FIRE no later than 7/5/2016 at 56 (done), securing '16 401K match (done), getting '15 401K match (done), LTI Bonus (done), Perf bonus (done), maxing out 401K (done), picking up 1,000 hours to get another year of pension (done), July 1st benefits (vacation day, healthcare) (done), July 4th holiday. 0 days left. (done) OFFICIALLY RETIRED 7/5/2016!!
Senator is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 08:42 AM   #6
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
easysurfer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,127
I was just a young puppy a few years into my career and didn't know about investing at the time (nothing but savings and checking accounts for me).

I remember older co-workers in a panic talking to others. Some folks came up and asked me it I had any stocks and I said "Nope". They looked to me like I was a genius of some sort, when really I was just green .
__________________
Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
easysurfer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 09:02 AM   #7
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
teejayevans's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,691
I sold all my company stock to buy a Corvette the week before, sometimes it pays to be a spendthrift [emoji2]
teejayevans is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 09:06 AM   #8
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 5,991
I was still in high school. I remember thinking on Black Monday in 1987 that Rachael who sat three seats in front of me in Physics was *really* hot.
Fermion is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 09:18 AM   #9
Recycles dryer sheets
thumbs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Waterloo
Posts: 68
Thanks for posting that. I think the key is "for young investors", like you mentioned. You can weather quite a financial storm early in your investment career and still win the game. My wife and I bought a business in 2008 that were eventually closed while still owing money on it in 2014. We took no income out of it in those 6 years. Not a mistake I would like to make at 50+, that's for sure.
thumbs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 09:55 AM   #10
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
calmloki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,271
Don't recall having a clue - we were starting to roll on the rentals. Had spent years fixing up a single rental house to absurd personal standards, then used it's equity to buy another rental house 4/1/85, a triplex in '86, and some nine unit apartments on 4/1/87. We were totally focused on trying to bring the places up to snuff and make our payments.
calmloki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 10:04 AM   #11
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Koogie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: GTA
Posts: 1,725
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fermion View Post
I was still in high school. I remember thinking on Black Monday in 1987 that Rachael who sat three seats in front of me in Physics was *really* hot.
Ditto. Except it was History and her name was Sheri.
__________________
Family Motto: "Every penny's a prisoner"
Koogie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 10:14 AM   #12
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
NYEXPAT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Miraflores,Peru
Posts: 1,992
Thanks for the trip down "memory lane". I reached FI by 11 am that morning, retired the next day with a hangover and it has been 30 glorious years since.
NYEXPAT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 10:15 AM   #13
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,320
Didn't have anything significant investments aside from some CDs (this was the 80s remember) and was a resident in surgery. The surgeons' lounge sure was a down place that week. Interestingly, the lesson I took away was probably that stocks come back if you just hang on because by the time I had significant money to invest it went largely into the markets.
6miths is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 10:16 AM   #14
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,430
Back then, I was an engineer being sexually harassed (think Harvey Weinstein) by the VP of Product Development. I had finally been able to transfer out of Product Development and thus avoid this lecher, for the most part.

I clearly recall the VP calling me several times that day as the market slid ever-downward, bemoaning his losses. All I could do was laugh (mostly silently) as I made some sarcastic comments to him.

I had very little in the market as I'd recently bought a condo.

omni
omni550 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 10:59 AM   #15
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Major Tom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF East Bay
Posts: 4,321
I was fresh out of college (23 years old) and have only vague recollections of it, as something that was apparently quite bad, which happened to other people. When I think of October 1987, my particularly vivid recollection was very carefully parallel parking the car in front of an office building on Lake Ave in Pasadena on the morning of Oct 1st. I had recently passed my driving test and was still taking pains to master my parking skills. I gingerly backed the car into the space, only to see the car behind me wobble a bit. Weird - I was pretty sure I hadn't hit it, but I was really green at this stuff and not too sure of my abilities. I decided to quickly put the car into forward and, as I looked at the car in front of me, saw that it was wobbling too. Then I glanced over at the office building and saw that all the windows were shaking too! In a second it hit me. My very first earthquake. How exciting. Much more exciting than a market crash!

I was 23 and brand new in the US, with a few hundred dollars of debt on a British credit card, and absolutely no savings or investments whatsoever. Stock market crashes were exceedingly dull, but earthquakes? Now those were fun
__________________
Contentedly ER, with 3 furry friends (now, sadly, 1).
Planning my escape to the wide open spaces in my campervan (with my remaining kitty, of course!)
On a mission to become the world's second most boring man.

Major Tom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 11:00 AM   #16
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Big_Hitter's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Les Bois
Posts: 5,761
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormy Kromer View Post
I'm sure several forum members remember October 19, 1987, aka Black Monday.

I was 22 years old and had just invested my life's savings into two different mutual funds on Thursday, October 15th. $10,000 hard earned dollars were worth about $6,000 the next week. I didn't sell and actually kept buying as I could and stuck to it. It hurt, but calm heads won. The only saving grace for me was that the MN Twins won the World Series, something I thought I'd never get to see.

Just a friendly pointer to young investors on the forum, there are going to be corrections in your investment lifetime, take them in stride and stay the course. It really does work.
remember it well. I was 23, working for the man and still paying off bar tabs so I wasn't affected
__________________
You can't be a retirement plan actuary without a retirement plan, otherwise you lose all credibility...
Big_Hitter is offline   Reply With Quote
Didn't lose a dime because I didn't have one
Old 10-15-2017, 11:09 AM   #17
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Mdlerth's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: The Shire
Posts: 1,504
Didn't lose a dime because I didn't have one

I was fully invested in a wife and kids. They paid off in more than money.
__________________
Paying it forward is the best investment.
Mdlerth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 11:20 AM   #18
Moderator
Walt34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,290
I had just bought a house a year earlier after a divorce, my net worth was a negative number, and I was working midnights so slept through it.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
Walt34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 11:27 AM   #19
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,120
I remember a quote from Sam Walton, then the wealthiest man in the US. A reporter told him how much his Walmart stock had declined, right down to the dollar. Sam calmly replied "It doesn't matter to me, I'm not selling it".
Stormy Kromer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2017, 11:39 AM   #20
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
USGrant1962's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: DC area
Posts: 2,464
I remember we were on the second floor of our building and there was a news ticker machine in Public Relations downstairs. Folks would run down, check it, and come back upstairs and report all day as the market tumbled.

No internet or financial TV back then.

I was 25 with just a little money in the market. Back then there was a 3-year wait to join the 401(k). Which I guess worked out pretty well for me in the end, now that I think about it.
__________________
FI and Semi-ER March 24, 2017
Consulting to stay engaged

"All models are wrong, some are useful." - George Box
There is always a well-known solution to every human problem: neat, plausible, and wrong.” - H.L. Mencken
USGrant1962 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Terminology Funny: Black Monday vs Black Friday 38Chevy454 FIRE and Money 9 08-27-2015 05:39 AM
This is worse than Black Monday accountingsucks FIRE and Money 11 10-10-2008 07:39 AM
Remembering Black Monday Coach Other topics 16 10-01-2008 05:36 PM
October 1987 Crash: What would you do? ZMAN FIRE and Money 47 10-19-2007 09:45 PM
Black Monday? wabmester FIRE and Money 12 05-13-2004 10:56 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:40 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.