Is it just me, or are others losing portfolio value too?

[Nords]

I don't know if the long-anticipated correction is underway, but for us the last five months have been a seemingly endless series of retirement-portfolio highs. I'm reminded of Frank Armstrong's warning "When everything you own is going up, you're not properly diversified." Not that we're complaining about our asset allocation.

Until last week. We finished the week down about 1% off our highs and today everything was red. (Thanks, Frank.) Today we lost another percent. Tweedy, Browne has dropped almost a percent off its all-time high. One of my high-flyin' no-profits momentum-trading stocks, Evergreen Solar, stopped me out yesterday and lost another 7% today. The NASDAQ sold off 1% in the last couple of trading hours. Heck, even Berkshire Hathaway sold off 1%. Intel, only a week away from a fairly important earnings call, might break down below $19 this week.

Again, I'm not complaining. This is what happens with an all-equity portfolio. If things keep going down, it could be a great example of seasonality and a fire-sale opportunity. I'm just pointing out that our portfolio is starting to slide a little down that wall of warning, and I'm glad that we've been keeping some powder dry...

 

[2B]

I actually made money Monday but was handed my head today. This has been a good year so far and I still think earnings will triumph over the Fed.

I'm about 90% equity but overweighted in large cap and value. I'm slowly moving more into small caps but I'm concerned about the recent run.

I've had a nice foreign exposure (does that include Canada?) so my returns have been helped there.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I don't look at my 55/45 portfoilo much at all, but I just did and found out that I am up about 10% apr YTD, so far. Much better than expected after I read your post. Intl. and REITs, and small Caps seem to be leading the way.

 

[LOL!]

For the past few years, March-April has been a time when the stock market has dropped a little bit. So I think what you have observed is just normal. I would not characterize it as a correction because it would have to drop another 5% or so to match my definition of a correction.

I have raised some cash that is sitting around earning 4%+ and am looking for an opportunity to buy something within the next 12 weeks. No real rush though.

For some confirmation of your thoughts, you might wish to read
http://www.smartmoney.com/commonsense/index.cfm?story=20060404

 

[mathjak107]

the thing you have to remind yourself is we have been up considerably the last few years assuming you werent in index funds......eventually we have to fall back to our averages for our mix and allocations.in my case 7-8 % ......last few years were 15% plus

 

[Cut-Throat]

the thing you have to remind yourself is we have been up considerably the last few years assuming you werent in index funds......eventually we have to fall back to our averages for our mix and allocations.in my case 7-8 % ......last few years were 15% plus

And if you are like the other mortals of the investing community, your averages will fall below index funds over the next 20 years or so!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've slightly gained ground over the last 4-6 weeks. Maybe 30-35k. This week is a little soft but I think i'm within a few grand of where I was last week. Lost about 6-7k today though. Big whoop.

 

[mathjak107]

down 7500 today....yeeeech

 

[brewer12345]

I had equities mostly down, bonds up and commodities up today. Eh, another ducat either way doesn't amount to much.

 

[Cool Dood]

Hey guys, thanks for making me feel good about only losing one k today

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I'm reminded of Frank Armstrong's warning "When everything you own is going up, you're not properly diversified."

I have been worried about that myself.

So, Nords, YA MADE ME LOOK!

Down 2% in the past week. Fidelity's Canada Fund and Matthews' Asian G&I only things up today.

Even so, up 8+% since Jan 1.

Ed,
(still holding my breath.)

 

[HFWR]

Up about 7.6% for the year with my slice n dice; have a bit of extra cash from selling VGPMX, VEIEX, and and a couple others I can't recall...

VGPMX was up 85% in 7 mos, so when it closed to new investors, I bailed. VEIEX has a higher ER than VWO, so will rebalance into it one of these days. The ER thread from a couple of weeks ago got me thinking, so I'm going to cull some more.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

NOTE: I am using slice-and-dice (approximately), too. (Thanks, Gummy, Less Antman and Scott Burns!)

Ed

 

[wildcat]

I will check in at the end of the year.

 

[obryanjf]

I just crossed 1MM two times in less than a month.  Once up and once down .  Down about 2% from my all time high.  Up about 7% ytd.  I was a bit  bummed out, but thought today I'm likely years ahead of the average person and that helps.  With that said, I wouldn't mind to see things change direction.

job

 

[mathjak107]

its days like these im glad i cut back to a 50/50 mix at this point......of course i regret not being more aggessive like the old days on the days we are up.

 

[Andre1969]

I didn't bother to check yesterday's totals, but I had just hit a new high on 4/6/06. As of 4/10/06 I was down about 1.1%.

**edit: just checked the numbers from yesterday. Looks like I lost another ~1% yesterday. Or, down about 2% from my 4/6/06 high. Oh well. It's only money. It'll go back up. Hopefully.

 

[Spanky]

Our portfolio is down about 1% this week.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Looks like we're going to get it all back today...

 

[JPatrick]

Looks like we're going to get it all back today...

as you say, ah ooogah!!
or thereabouts

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ooogah bad.

ding ding ding! good.

 

[Momtwo]

Stocks in portfolio only up 2.28% since January. I am just holding all.

 

[Cool Dood]

I'm down again today, after starting higher.

Let me guess, everybody else is too?

Nothing major, just the usual oscillations.

 

[astromeria]

I'm bouncing up today, thanks to emerging markets, small caps, and foreign REITs. Even VTI is up a fraction. Large caps are still hurting today.

What seemed like a huge blow-down for me on Fiday and Monday turned out to be -1.25% overall (I'm 60/40, with half the stocks being foreign and real assets: REITs, energy, VGPMX, timber).

 

[Cool Dood]

Despite a really crappy February and March, for all of Q1 I went up 10.48%. I don't think it really matters how good or bad your returns are over any particular short period of time. If anything, a downturn is just a good opportunity to buy.