Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-27-2008, 01:27 PM   #101
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
ziggy29's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanita8140 View Post
...aaaaaa considering the bad news about the tanking market, perhaps this is not the time to give him this bad news.
Sure it is. Maybe it's good news -- that he doesn't have to stew over what he can't have any more.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
ziggy29 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 06-27-2008, 01:29 PM   #102
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Milton's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,360
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords View Post
20 years in the submarine force
Sooner you than me, Nords! Hotbunking has never appealed to me.
__________________
"To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive". Robert Louis Stevenson, An Inland Voyage (1878)
Milton is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2008, 03:10 PM   #103
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Dawg52's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanita8140 View Post
Just face it...you've been "outed"....nice try though...LOL. It's no biggy to me as I'm female(and straight)....but the thing is that on occassions my hubby sits with me and reads some of the posts and your avatar caught his eye(and more then once)...LOL....I hate to have to tell him that you are a guy!!!...aaaaaa considering the bad news about the tanking market, perhaps this is not the time to give him this bad news.
Just tell him your not sure about the market, but he may not want to look if the skirt flies up.
__________________
Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
Dawg52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2008, 04:13 PM   #104
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Quote:
Who says you can't lust over yourself?
furniture.jpg
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2008, 04:15 PM   #105
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I left the computer for just a few seconds and he did that. Very crude -- sorry.
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2008, 04:56 PM   #106
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
cute fuzzy bunny's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
Made me wanna go buy some tech stocks.
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
cute fuzzy bunny is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2008, 06:09 PM   #107
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,821
Quote:
Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny View Post
We're also not hearing a whole lot from the folks who like to arb a mortgage.

My house "bond" is holding its value, i'm improving its value on the cheap, I'm not suffering stock market losses on the mortgage amount,
So, is it safe to assume you own no stocks or stock funds at all?

Anyone arb'ing a mortgage is hoping that the long term returns on the market will be higher than their current mortgage interest rate. No one should expect those returns to be better each and every year.

So - the market is down. So are you saying you only want fixed investments, 'cause you are not going to look at the long term returns of the market? I fail how you can say one w/o saying the other. And we will just ignore the fact that someone arb'ing their mortgage with the S&P Index would have had average annual returns of 9.63%.


edit: forgot to mention - your house value and cheap improvements happen whether you have a mortgage or not.

Quote:
....and my withdrawal rate is so low by not having to make debt payments that I really could care less what the market levels are.
This of course, conveniently ignores the fact that if one does not put the money against the mortgage, there is a bigger pool of liquidity to draw from.

I don't think there is a big difference one way or the other - but I don't think those arguments hold water.

-ERD50
ERD50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 09:17 AM   #108
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
cute fuzzy bunny's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
Oh the mistake of clicking on 'show ignored post'. And its been so long.

I think the actual point was in response to ikubak noting that peoples opinions change greatly during times of strong up and down days/weeks. We're not as brave as we like to admit. My contribution was to note that a lot more people are excited with the idea of arbing debt in up markets than they are in down ones.

So dont let the exuberance make you do something you'll regret later.

As to your comments, no of course I dont own only fixed investments and no equities. In fact, my portfolio is packed with all sorts of investments and runs toward the higher risk/return level. The difference is that without any debt to pay and employing a 3 bucket strategy, I dont have to sell any equities when I dont want to...ever. So price movements are irrelevant to me. And while I have a smaller pool of liquidity than I would if I had a huge pile of debt to service, not needing to ever sell anything means down days and weeks dont make me feel bad.

I'm sure there are plenty of vulcans with 6" brass balls that like the idea of making an extra point or two over 30 year periods and dont reach for the pepto bismol when the market reels down a thousand points. I'm not one of them and this thread and its brethren suggest that most of the rest of us arent either.

As far as that 9.63% return goes, for the last 8 years you'd have had less than a zero return. We all already know that such a scenario happening early in a retirement equals failure. Maybe the next 8 years will be better. Maybe not.

There IS a big difference in the two scenarios. One is practically failure proof. The other trades significant emotional and financial issues for a little more return in some situations.

So hold your own water. Hold it between your knees.
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
cute fuzzy bunny is offline   Reply With Quote
Stick with your plan
Old 06-28-2008, 09:44 AM   #109
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 228
Stick with your plan

I think this time is no different. You need a plan and need to stick with it. I had decided more than a year ago that I would go for listed commercial real estate at the end of this great market cycle, when this bear episode will be finished. I'm now up to 32% in cash, as I keep piling up cash and as the rest of the portfolio slowly melts... When time will come I will load the ETFs and close end funds I've been looking at for so long. And a new cycle will begin. The more difficult part is to decide what you want to do (and in which conditions) and to do it !
__________________
gnoti seauton
poyet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 09:50 AM   #110
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
haha's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
Quote:
Originally Posted by poyet View Post
I think this time is no different. You need a plan and need to stick with it. I had decided more than a year ago that I would go for listed commercial real estate at the end of this great market cycle, when this bear episode will be finished. I'm now up to 32% in cash, as I keep piling up cash and as the rest of the portfolio slowly melts... When time will come I will load the ETFs and close end funds I've been looking at for so long. And a new cycle will begin. The more difficult part is to decide what you want to do (and in which conditions) and to do it !
Poyet, which closed ends are you watching?

Ha
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
haha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 09:50 AM   #111
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 798
Quote:
Originally Posted by poyet View Post
When time will come I will load the ETFs and close end funds I've been looking at for so long. And a new cycle will begin. The more difficult part is to decide what you want to do (and in which conditions) and to do it !
I have already started buying some closed end Bank Loan funds, REIT funds, Preferred funds, and higher yielding individual stocks like PFE and GE. Bought some in Feb and another batch last week. Too soon in your opinion? I decided what I wanted to do and did it.

I did get smacked around some in all of them last week.
RockOn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 09:58 AM   #112
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Finance Dave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,854
stay calm and ride it out...it WILL come back. Once it recovers, slowly rebalance and reduce your risk so that next time you won't be hurt.
Finance Dave is offline   Reply With Quote
Take care, none of them is to buy yet
Old 06-28-2008, 10:07 AM   #113
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 228
Take care, none of them is to buy yet

Quote:
Originally Posted by haha View Post
Poyet, which closed ends are you watching?

Ha
Hi,

My favorite REITs CE income funds (with their current yields) are RIT (14,7%), IGR (9,8%), JRS (12,9%), NRO (19,4%).

I will NOT buy basically until (ROC(MM200) > 0 and Close > MM200). Doing this avoids to have an opinion and let you stick with a rule.

I also keep buying dollars since the euro passed 1,5$ for 1euro (early April). Each time I make a wire to a US account I obviously first buy USD.

I think we'll have a unique opportunity to generate income for Early Retirees while preserving capital from inflation with this bear episode.

I wish I had more cash. With 32% in cash not only I feel the pain but more importantly this limits my opportunities.
__________________
gnoti seauton
poyet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 10:11 AM   #114
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 798
Quote:
Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny View Post
The difference is that without any debt to pay and employing a 3 bucket strategy, I dont have to sell any equities when I dont want to...ever. So price movements are irrelevant to me.
Pretty bold statement, a SWR of 4% becomes highly risky 8% after a 50% portfolio decline. Look at the Japan index, there are no guarantees of what can happen in markets in the rest of one's life. Japan is down for around 18 years now and still about 65%, without even considering inflation even though there were some dividends. Prices movements are always relevant for me.
RockOn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 10:33 AM   #115
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,894
The only timing I am doing right now is on my Prudent Bear Fund. As an insurance, I invested about 10% of our retirement accounts in BEARX last August when the DOW passed 13,000 on the way up. By last October, when the DOW topped 14,000 it looked like a BIG mistake. Off course in hindsight I am glad I did it but now comes the hard part: I have to decide when to sell it and reinvest the proceeds in VTSMX and VGTSX. I almost pulled the trigger in March (I had a 18% gain on it at the time), but the market recovered so quickly that by the time I felt comfortable letting go of it, it was already too late. So this time I am going to sell small chunks of it at a time to make sure I don't miss the next wave completely.
FIREd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 10:39 AM   #116
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
haha's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
Quote:
Originally Posted by RockOn View Post
Prices movements are always relevant for me.
Given that, how do you respond to price movement? For example, what have you done or will you do now?

Quote:
My favorite REITs CE income funds (with their current yields) are RIT (14,7%), IGR (9,8%), JRS (12,9%), NRO (19,4%).
Poyet- thanks for the symbols. I'll look them up today. BTW, I agree with your viewpoint- this fall is a good break for retirees who have some income or cash resources. The world will do what it does, but if we are going to be equity investors better to be in at lower average prices than higher.

Ha
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
haha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 11:10 AM   #117
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,821
Quote:
Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny View Post
I'm sure there are plenty of vulcans with 6" brass balls that like the idea of making an extra point or two over 30 year periods and dont reach for the pepto bismol when the market reels down a thousand points. I'm not one of them and this thread and its brethren suggest that most of the rest of us arent either.

So hold your own water. Hold it between your knees.
It's a personal decision as to whether someone is comfortable with the risk/reward position or not. They can do as they see fit, I have no problem with that.

But I do have a problem with statements like - 'oh, the market is down, those mortgage arbs are hurting'. Seems you just have to feel superior with your decision - you are unlikely to post the opposite during a bull market. There isn't a yes/no answer, it will depend on the long term market. I think those taking the risk realize what it is, and accept it.

Insults don't help the discussion, in either case. Perhaps you need a refresher?

http://www.early-retirement.org/?page=rules

-ERD50
ERD50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 11:17 AM   #118
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Dawg52's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
Quote:
Originally Posted by Finance Dave View Post
stay calm and ride it out...it WILL come back. Once it recovers, slowly rebalance and reduce your risk so that next time you won't be hurt.
Perfect advice for me. Only I can't stay calm.
__________________
Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
Dawg52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2008, 03:54 PM   #119
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
clifp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,733
Quote:
Originally Posted by RockOn View Post
Pretty bold statement, a SWR of 4% becomes highly risky 8% after a 50% portfolio decline. Look at the Japan index, there are no guarantees of what can happen in markets in the rest of one's life. Japan is down for around 18 years now and still about 65%, without even considering inflation even though there were some dividends. Prices movements are always relevant for me.
I am not sure you understand the real meaning of a Safe Withdrawal rate.
Remember FIRECalc and similar actually run a scenario when you retire in 1929 and watch the Dow drop from 381 to 44 in 1932 or retire in the 70s with a flat stock market like the 70s with double digit inflation. Now many withdrawal rates fail during those two periods part of the 95%, but some AA survive.

Right now we are in a garden variety bear market no where close to a 50% decline.
clifp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2008, 12:46 AM   #120
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 927
Are these financial good times or financial bad times? We could have all converted our portfolios to cash and bough gold at around $620 back in october and then sold the gold when it reached $1000 a couple months back and invested in oil. Anybody here do exactly that? Anyone who did would be up over 100% for the last 9 months. Instead of doing that many of us stayed where we were and lost 10 to 20 percent of value in our porfolios. So did we lose 10 to 20% or did we really lose 110+%? We are here moaning about losing 10 to 20% and grousing about a bad economy while someone who followed the portfolio to cash to gold to oil scenario above would be as happy as a clam and would tell us that one mans bad economy is another man's chance to prosper. It is all relative. For some people this may be the first time they have seen big losses in their portfolio value. For many this is the first time in their lives that real estate did not appreciate. Granted that most of us made a giant financial mistake not following the above gold to oil scenario but our diversified portfolios will come back up eventually. The FIRECALC will continue to work though it never has said that even with a 100% probability of succes your portfolio will not go up and down with the rest of the market.
Jeff
jclarksnakes 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
52 and ready to jump, give me a push! Shafer239 Hi, I am... 17 06-28-2008 10:32 AM
Panic of 08? FinallyRetired FIRE and Money 79 03-20-2008 12:25 PM
ugh, this is just wonderful. dumpster56 Other topics 1 02-09-2008 02:24 AM
Will There Be Panic In The Markets? Retire Soon FIRE and Money 148 01-25-2008 06:17 AM
UGH applied for Health Insurance and now an INJURY wallygator69 Health and Early Retirement 6 12-29-2007 10:07 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:30 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.