EQUITY: Sell? Buy? Stay put?

[twaddle]

Sold and then immediately bought back similar stuff. Finally have some tax losses to harvest! Woohoo!

 

[Spanky]

I bought VEU & VTI last week, but they continue to fall - bummer!

 

[unclemick]

Checking the weather report - there have been no long power failures in Valley Forge - Vanguard computers probably have backup bats' any wise.

Target Retirement 2015 - ya gotta love automatic!

In keeping with 'sell in May and go away'. - my crystal ball says wait till the Saints open regular season against last years Superbowl champs before adjusting any of the Norwegian widow stocks.

Of course - one must be careful about past performance - a least with the stock market. Right?

heh heh heh -

 

[SamHouston]

So far I'm standing pat. I'm still a bit ahead for the year (although that could only last a few more days at this rate) and that encourages me to hang on for the ride. I don't feel like I'm over-weighted in equities, so I can't see selling now.

 

[LOL!]

Sold and then immediately bought back similar stuff. Finally have some tax losses to harvest! Woohoo!

Ditto! I've saved myself thousands of dollars in taxes!!! Woohoo!

 

[kumquat]

Ditto! I've saved myself thousands of dollars in taxes!!! Woohoo!

Isn't the term 'deferred'?

 

[LOL!]

Isn't the term 'deferred'?

Not quite. I will use the losses to offset ordinary income and short term gains taxed at 33%, but the replacement gains will be held long term and those gains will be taxed at 15%. So that means Uncle Sam pays for 18% of my losses.

 

[d]

i've been nibbling, but have fortunately been cautious so i still have a chunk sitting on the side-lines ...

 

[FIREd]

I voted "stayed put" but I did invest some money in the market by way of scheduled 401K, IRA and taxable account contributions (although it represents only about 1.2% of total portfolio). I haven't sold any equities but I did reduce the credit risk in my fixed income portfolio. I have some cash on the sidelines that I will inject in the market a little bit at a time.

 

[chinaco]

I have learned to not try to time the market. I can point to few times that I guessed correctly. And if I got it right on one side of trade (for example got out)... I missed the other side (getting back in at the right time). I would only sell equities that were in trouble (looking like bankruptcy or fundamental problems). If the investment is a good one, I would hold it.


I use asset allocation. On the equity portion of the portfolio (the %)... Like Texas Holdem... I am all in!

I will just ride the waves and let some of those big upward equity waves slosh into my tranquil lagoon of bonds/fixed.

Thats my story, I am sticking to it.


Good luck to all.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i wound up buying a bunch about 1/2 way down because i had just moved the remainder of my ira to vanguard. but then it kept on going down, bummer. i would be depressed about that but since i'm down 30% on real estate, what i've lost in the market hardly bugs me at all.

i'm pretty sure i was just mean for a weekly check or my allowance. i don't seem to get the hang of this. and since i have no intention of ever working again and mom is dead, um, anyone wanna adopt me? i come with a decreasing dowry but a well-stocked sense of humor.

 

[Eagle43]

As usual, I did nothing.

I considered moving 50% of the bond funds into equities just to prove I'm so smart. But, what if I wasn't? Plus 64 is no age to gamble. "You gotta know when to hold 'em; know when to fold 'em; know when to walk away; know when to run."

 

[DangerMouse]

We did some tax loss harvesting and thinned out the portfolio, which was much needed.

However we will now return to our normal schedule of purchasing once a week and we continue to buy via a few DRIP programs we participate in.

 

[SecondCor521]

I did move $2K from cash into VTSMX for my kids' college today. But I would have done that soon anyway...it was sort of a discretionary buy.

Other than that and the typical paycheck 401(k) contribution, just standing pat.

2Cor521

Hey lookee! I'm a contrarian indicator!

(Because I made the buy late yesterday afternoon, I got today's closing price.)

2Cor521

 

[ladelfina]

staying put for lotsa reasons:
-most holdings in taxable accounts
-buy & hold so would be facing big CG even to sell "losers" or less-desireable holdings; I also don't rebalance (bad!) for this reason.
-80% equities/10%bonds/10%cash; see above (urk!)

I would rather be buying but I have to take a close look at how much cash we really have to throw at this situation.. would rather not exacerbate any losses. As of today I looked and with Friday's prices YTD we are still up 6.5% (portfolio gains & investment income only) so I can't really say I am feeling any serious pain as of yet.

The same report run on Thursday's prices said 5.1%; on Wednesday's 10.3%.. big difference between 5% and 10%, but what can ya do? YTD 8/1/07 it was 12.6% (nice, but 6.5% is ok, too.. taking into account that if I look back 365 days to 8/18/06 the "year's" return for me was 16.3% -- sometimes the choice of "frame" is important).

The difference between the 5% ytd return and the 10% ytd return is predicated on a change (Wed.->Thurs.) of only 3% of the underlying portfolio which then got back about 1% (Thurs.->Fri.).

Not particularly scary yet, and even if it were I'm not convinced churning or pulling $ out is the appropriate solution.

Here's one way of looking at it:
Forbes.com: Digital Rules By Rich Karlgaard

---
Interesting! I figured more buyers than sellers.. but as of now the responses are 27/4 - quite a difference.

 

[haha]

He must be unacquainted with markets. What he is talking about is a split, not a reverse split. When stock is reverse split it is usually some stock which has fallen below a dollar, or down to a few bucks. A reverse split, often done 1:4 or maybe 1:10 restores it to a respectable level where it is unlikely to get de-listed, or to be stricken off eligibility lists for some institutions. So in a 1:10 split one might have had 1000 shares trading at $1, after one will have only 100 shares. Theoretically these should trade at $10, but of course they may not. Sometimes they drift on down especially in weak markets. I think some people will buy very low cost shares at times just because their per share $ cost is low. "Penny Stocks".

The weird trading that can take place in very low priced issues is almost funny.

As regards the Dow, and its daily movement, I think people are getting used to thinking in percentages. The radio usually announces, "The Dow closed at 13,111.03 today, falling 131 points or 1% on the day." Also, hearing changes in the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all with quite different base numbers moves people toward thinking in percentages.

Ha

 

[dgalbraith100]

For all those who "harvested your losses". I'm sure you know, you can't sell and then immediatly rebuy the same stock. (unless you do that in a IRA). That just creates a wash sale. Also be aware of selling taxable items, and buying them inside the IRA withing +/- 30 days.

wash sale - Google Search

I'm not sure about selling one ETF that tracks some index, and buying a different ETF that tracks the same index. I'd guess that creates a wash sale as well, but I don't know for sure.

Just a little heads up.

Laters,
-d.

 

[kcowan]

Just got back from a road trip to find that it is Dec 15th 2006 all over again! Maybe I will finally get rid of some of that accumulated cash from profit-taking in the last 9 months. I love a sale.

 

[twaddle]

I'm not sure about selling one ETF that tracks some index, and buying a different ETF that tracks the same index. I'd guess that creates a wash sale as well, but I don't know for sure.

Negative. Unless the IRS rules otherwise, it's a free lunch. Woohoo!

 

[CuppaJoe]

I re-balanced (using tax-deferred accounts) on July 16, nice profit! Sold some more on August 2 (tax-deferred) and August 15 (some taxable), all at big profits over cost basis. When I clicked the last sale, it was like, "F*** it, I'll pay the taxes. Slept very well on the 17h. I am currently 3.4% in equities. Go ahead, Fed, lower the rates, my ginnies await!

I'm looking to get back into equities seriously with new money in the Spring of '08.

Cuppa

 

[Alex]

nada

 

[dessert]

Sold 3% so voted "did not sell".

I also just got back from a road trip (2 weeks) with no access to internet. I only heard small snipits of CNN and watched the Markets tumble. When I finally checked my 401K, I am still up 5.5% for the year. Believe you me, I thought it was going to be really ugly and I didn't want to even look. I transferred 3% from one fund to another so I didn't really sell anything.
I'm riding it out. I heard a lot of good comments from others on the forum and we still might all be doing a lot better by year's end.
Here's wishing everyone a good ride.