ugh almost ready to give in to panic

[Helena]

The main takeaway I'm getting from this thread is that it's easy to relax if you're one of the fortunate few with a COLA'd pension.

I don't have a COLA'd pension... I took a lump sum and rolled it over
to a self-directed IRA.

I do have a glorified hobby that brings in extra $$.

My health insurance is paid by my former employer [Blue Cross]

I am completely out of debt... I mean totally... all my real estate
and vehicles are paid off.

 

[Dawg52]

I don't have a COLA'd pension... I took a lump sum and rolled it over
to a self-directed IRA.

I do have a glorified hobby that brings in extra $$.

My health insurance is paid by my former employer [Blue Cross]

I am completely out of debt... I mean totally... all my real estate
and vehicles are paid off.

Before I ask you to marry me, you are female? Correct?

 

[Helena]

Before I ask you to marry me, you are female? Correct?

I retired early... but still too old for you.

Besides... I like being single.

 

[Nords]

Before I ask you to marry me, you are female? Correct?

Should that make a difference?

 

[RockOn]

Hey, if you want a COLA pension too, then you can go buy a COLA-adjusted annuity from Vanguard for a lot less than I paid for mine. The payer might have a slightly lower credit rating but I'm not sure that'll make a difference over our lifespans. You won't have to learn how to breathe underwater either.

quote]

You own a COLA'd insurance annuity? I would not have guessed that. I assume you think that was a mistake?

 

[73ss454]

Hey, if you want a COLA pension too, then you can go buy a COLA-adjusted annuity from Vanguard for a lot less than I paid for mine. The payer might have a slightly lower credit rating but I'm not sure that'll make a difference over our lifespans. You won't have to learn how to breathe underwater either.

quote]

You own a COLA'd insurance annuity? I would not have guessed that. I assume you think that was a mistake?

Yeah, he owns one from the federal gov., it took him 20 years to buy it.

 

[Dawg52]

Should that make a difference?

For some, no. And to be politically correct, that's ok too. But for me, yes. But I've been rejected anyway. So I'll lust over my avatar.

 

[73ss454]

For some, no. And to be politically correct, that's ok too. But for me, yes. But I've been rejected anyway. So I'll lust over my avatar.

Dawg the boy toy! rejected

 

[DblDoc]

Working extra shifts. Picked up a locums job. Spending all that extra cash on VEU and VTI. When looking in the rear view mirror 15-20 years from now 2008 will have been a good year to purchase equities, certainly better then 2007...

DD

 

[FIREd]

Just ignoring the market right now (at least trying). Still investing according to schedule. My wife's 401K contribution was invested today. We added more money to our VG portfolio Yesterday. Plus this week it's quarterly dividend paying week so we have several thousand dollars being reinvested at pretty low prices.

 

[calmloki]

Bought $5k of VTSMX and $5k of BAC shortly before the close. Not enough to make any difference to our standard of living if we ever get retardified, but satisfies the feeling i should do something!

 

[73ss454]

I did 8K in VTSMX today also.

 

[Razor]

Any predictions what the DOW will do tomorrow? I say up 50.

 

[ziggy29]

Any predictions what the DOW will do tomorrow? I say up 50.

Knowing that I don't really know, and I'm just having fun with it...

It will have triple digit gains for much of the day and sell off in the last hour to close near flatline.

Fridays are generally not friendly in this market. Plus I think there may be some end-of-quarter purges by some institutions who don't want to have vertain stocks (of certain allocations to stocks) in their quarterly reports...

 

[windsurf]

I'm not under 50 but....

Watching CNBC today and many experts were saying not to buy now. But I remember that these were the same experts telling m to buy- buy- buy only a year ago.

So I bought some more today.

Amen, brother.

 

[unclemick]

From the Vanguard personal webpage:

psssst Wellesley 4.24% yield and my very own Target 2015 3.05%.

And this time it's NOT different - in spite of investing (1966 - 2008) I'll probably get 'that twinge' and spend less this year even though I'm not getting any younger and there is a hot rumor I can't take it with me.

Hopefully I will 'hurry up and just stand there' with my retirement money.

1987 crash was the last time I really cracked - greed and lust caused me to from 50/50 to 100% 500 Index fund in my 401k.

Drat it all - hormones, hobby money, preseason isn't till August or so. The itch to buy, or remodel something, perhaps a back deck or kayak or ??

heh heh heh - At least I know those Vanguard computers are busy rebalancing my balanced index funds.

 

[jclarksnakes]

I should clarify that my COLA'd pension is "supplemented" with my paycheck from my parttime job and DW's paycheck from her job. Her job BTW, will soon enough result in another COLA'd pension. A COLA'd pension is only money. Some number of $$ more in the portfolio would be just as good.
Jeff

 

[SkisALot]

Each person has to listen to his/her own inner voice to determine what is right for him. (Notwithstanding the butter knife, that is.) I don't mean to offend anyone, but I do think that having a pension makes it easier to be cavalier about difficult times, and having both a pension and retiree heatlh insurance makes it even more so. As for me, I don't have either; I'm on my own here with a longevity genetic code, and I am very much concerned.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Should that make a difference?

Absolutely not especially if you're marrying for money.

 

[windsurf]

and I am very much concerned.

I feel your pain, but like many of the geezers on the board, these times of anxiety and sleepless nights have turned out to be the worst times to panic and sell, a time to at least sit tight, and for the bold, more often, the time to buy (or for the meek like me, to see a month from now that I should have bought). Hang in there.

 

[SkisALot]

I feel your pain, but like many of the geezers on the board, these times of anxiety and sleepless nights have turned out to be the worst times to panic and sell, a time to at least sit tight, and for the bold, more often, the time to buy (or for the meek like me, to see a month from now that I should have bought). Hang in there.

Thanks Windsurf. I've actually gotten a little better than when I retired 3 years ago; then I didn't sleep much in this kind of financial environment; now - like now - I have a gin and tonic and take comfort from good people like you.

 

[rogersteciak]

But you DO have a cash buffer of at least a year or two of expenses, right?

You DO have the ability to avoid liquidating equities for at least 3-4 years, yes?

You ARE cutting costs and expenses, ya?

Then you've got nothing to worry about.

One school of thought says that we're going to see these volatile swings (between euphoric highs and depressing lows) over the next few decades for a variety of reasons. This means we'll get though the present crisis eventually and on to the next spate of good times before things turn around again and we're back into the next crisis.

The time to start preparing for the next crisis is right now while we are in one because we are all painfully aware of what we should have done during more prosperous times to be able to SWAN (sleep well at night) right now. We are currently living, rather than just imagining, what it is like when the financial world is in a crisis.

 

[clifp]

This month in dividends

June 11: Caterpillar Inc.'s (CAT) board on Wednesday increased the quarterly dividend by 17% to 42 cents from 36 cents. The dividend will be paid Aug. 20 to stockholders of record at the close of business July 21.

June 24:
the board of directors of BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) today declared an increase in the 2008 third quarter dividend to $0.47 per share, a 2.2 percent increase over the $0.46 paid in the third quarter of 2007.
The dividend will be paid Aug. 1 to shareholders of record as of July 11. "We are pleased to announce an increase in the cash dividend," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Allison. "This increase marks the 37th consecutive year that BB&T has increased the cash dividend paid to shareholders and reflects our healthy capital levels."
The 10-year compound growth rate for BB&T's quarterly dividend payment is 10.4 percent. BB&T has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1903.

Now to be fair, there has lots of discussion of dividend cuts in the stock I own especially financial. But there has been only one company who actually cut the dividend MMAB, vs more than a dozen increase this year.

It is a pity I need to the dividend income to pay bills cause at these prices I'd sure like to buy more but I'll stick to reinvesting dividends in my IRAs.

 

[headingout]

The one benefit I can see in the lousy market is that it has made me appreciate my job: it's nice to have an income right now. I've been buying stocks aggressively since the first big low in January. Yeah it stinks that everything I've bought since then is underwater, but that's the price of buying through a downturn. In my case, there is no other game in town: If I want to ER, I need the stock market to do it. If I just sit on my money in CD's, ER is a decade away. So I'll keep buying stocks steadily, and I'll stop once the Dow has climbed back into the high 12,000's. In the meantime my bonds, commodities, and energy investments are keeping the ship afloat. Such diversification is absolutely essential to avoid truly gut-wrenching losses.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

You may be right, but ...

You're right... you don't speak for me.

I cashed out last year and had absolutely no tax hit.

We'll see who's ahead of the game come next April.


~

The problem with cashing completely out is a) you need to not only time the getting out part but the getting back in part, and b) if you are in cash, your asset base is slowly eroding due to inflation. [I did manage to do this somewhat in 2000 with my 401k, but was that skill or luck .]

It is painful to watch your portfolio go down down down, but what is puzzling to me is the level of angst in terms of these huge losses. Let's review, since October (the high), the Dow is down 19%, SP500 18%. Geez, I remember losing over 20% in 1 day in 1987 and that wasn't the end of the world (although it felt like it at the time).