How bad a hit did you take this week ?

B

BigNick

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I update "the spreadsheet" (you know the one I mean) twice-weekly. Last time was Tuesday, August 2. You know, the day when we all breathed a sigh of relief because Congress had decided not plunge the markets and the entire financial system into turmoil. :)

So I just did my Saturday update. It was kind of like peeking out from under the blankets to see if the baddies have gone, but I took a deep breath...

Actually, it wasn't too bad. The CAC40 (headline French stock index) is off 15% from ten days ago, and with 50% in stocks, I'm down 3.6% in Euros (6% in US$) over the same period. Not fun, but not cat food time yet. I guess that I'm getting some benefit out of my international diversification, which has been a one-way downward bet over the last year as the US$ has dropped.
 
Total portfolio is down 4.5% from one week ago.
 
My portfolio (CDs, municipal bonds, money market or equivalent) is right on track - about 3.5% for the year.
 
My Aug 2 response to YTD Performance Poll thread:
5.36 Total Return YTD according to M* portfolio manager
AA 31/63/6


As of Friday Aug 5, still hanging tough at 3.87% total return YTD per M* portfolio manager.
AA shifted slightly to 28/66/6. No big deal, it will eventually readjust itself back to my desired target of roughly 35/60/5. :D
No active rebalancing is planned.
 
Down 3.4% for the week on a 60/40 AA.
 
Don't know, don't care and ain't looking, just a bump on the road is all.
 
Not as bad as one day in 1987 when I lost 25+% in one day (more than the -22.61% average for the day, let alone the week).

Of course in strict dollar losses (regardless of inflation), today's look a bit more scary because of the amounts posted.

I learned a good lesson - although I didn't realize it at the time. I sold nothing (no need to, my income came from my j*b) and continued to invest these many years.

Those with little time in the market (and I refer to "little", as less than 20 years) may be scared (same as I was, back then) but in the end, it taught me a good lesson about not letting short term market drops rule your future.

Additional "teachable moments" were the 2008-09 downturn (after I was already retired), when I learned to "harvest" my gains in a more timely manner, rather than just at one point of the year. That lesson suited me well, as I sold off a good bit earlier this year (several times, during the run-up) to add to my cash bucket.

IMHO, you learn little from the "good times". You need to suffer a few losses along the way to come up with a solid plan that works for you...
 
Don't want to look....I'll wait until the end of the month.
 
On the last big down turn it made me sick watching my port every day. I made my mind up after that mess not to look every day and just ride the down turns out. So I haven't looked in weeks.
 
73ss454 said:
On the last big down turn it made me sick watching my port every day. I made my mind up after that mess not to look every day and just ride the down turns out. So I haven't looked in weeks....and have focused my time applying for SS benefits.
Click to expand...
Fixed it for ya...
 
I am down 1.7% for the week (in US$). Fairly conservative portfolio at the moment (around 30% in equity).
 
I am down 1% for the week and up 3% YTD. Remembering back to some days in '02 and again in '08, this seems like a stroll in the park. Of course, it felt like that then as well, before things went sour.

This is like a roller-coaster. No matter how many times you ride it, you get that same feeling in the stomach when the car reaches the top and begins the free-fall. The feeling never goes away, you just learn to enjoy it - or take another ride.
 
I don't keep day-to-day track of most things. My equity mutual fund IRA is down 8.2% since June 30 and down 5% since January.
 
Down 1.2% for the week, still up 2% for the year. MLP and RE got hit hard. Increased my cash position further to 50%. This economy has seemed very fragile to me since April and I don't see any sustainable improvement any time soon.
 
Down about 2% since the decline started. I am right at about breakeven YTD.

Interesting to see that the forum has a "lost a million" club. Right now, happy to say I am NOT a member, but considering unrealized losses in real estate ( My home ), big losses in 2008/2009, plus a large loss due to unwise speculation in 2004, I am slightly more than halfway there. :(
 
- In month of August so far lost - 5.74% of the portfolio &
- In year 2011 so far lost - 1.6% of the portfolio

Portfolio is about 50/50, funny as I try to keep the age in Bonds and was about to sell some stocks in a day or two to get to Stocks 45 / Bonds 55 & was thinking of the Cap Gains Taxes, when I took this hit. Oh well, will sit tight & hopefully things will be fine by the year end.

I am at a point, the need to take the risk is quite less as I can do quite well with bonds with a yearly return of 3 to 4 % but does hurt some when the money is lost. Interesting that the Stocks for the decade have hardly inched any, and a diversified Bonds Portfolio has done much better.

We are looking into retirement in 5 to 10 yrs, and realize that stocks can easily be around 30 to 35% of the Portfolio during those years. But during each of these Market Crashes, Corrections, recessions or what have you, I did not sell any stocks & law & behold every time the market came up within a year or two.

I think for me,the glaring lesson to take away from this is as soon as the AA gets more towards stocks sell them & realize the profits, pay the taxes (All my stocks are in Taxable) & get into cash or Tax Exempt Short term Bonds.

Looking back though I would not change a thing & will do the same thing again i.e invest in the Index Market either stocks or bonds, as talking for myself here, there is no other place I can put my savings for retirement. I am not into nor am skilled enough or have any time or inclination for any part time business / real estate / day trading / individual stock research to invest/ currency trading or invest in snake oil farms. The couch, arm chair and a lap top for index investing is my thing & will keep seeing these portfolio up and downs .

I hope this downturn will not amount to anything to any of us if we do not sell, regards.
 
Down about 5% this past week. But I tell myself, it's only a paper loss.

Looking forward to when it's rebalancing time if my percentages start to drift.
 
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