Feb 27 damage

[Andre1969]

Still haven't gotten all my totals in yet, but about 80% of my accounts are updated. I figure I'm down about 2.7% so far. So I'm still guessing once my two 401k's update in the morning I'll be down about 3.5%.

 

[Bikerdude]

I took a 3% hit today in excess of $25,000 and didn't like it one bit.

If this day really bothers you, you may want to adjust your exposure to equities.

 

[firewhen]

You seasoned investors offer words of encouragment but for us newer investors...damn this hurts. If this keeps up I'm going to be playing with my money eventually and then I'll see how tough I am.

Firedude, if you do one thing because of this board, please do not sell. $10,000 invested in the stock market in 1926 over 80 years would be worth over $25 million now (I read this in a book) or the same amount would have grown to $1,431,800 over the 50 years from 1955-2005 as reported in Fidelity’s Stages magazine last year. There have always been dips, corrections, and outright big declines, but there has never been a time in US history when after a decline that the stock market has not come back and than some. The money is always "safe" in the bank--it just hardly grows!

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Dumb luck - neutral. This was the week I rolled over my largest IRA from Alliance to Vanguard. The check was cut on 2/20, mailed on 2/23, not credited yet per vanguard.

Looks like I'll ride this one out off the table. When it credits I'll re-allocate it according to plan, probably at a bargain price.

I'm paying close attention: wouldn't want to have to worry about days like this after FIRE. Plenty of cash for me when the time comes.

 

[audreyh1]

Oh Rich!

You may be so lucky with this timing. My accounts peaked on 2/20. If you're able to reinvest after today - that's sweet!

Audrey

 

[NinjaPigeon]

Looks like I took it for 3.428% today. Funny, even with this big of a hit, I'm not really phased. I started investing last year, and threw all my cash into the market right before the big dip in May. That really helped me get used to the idea of buying on the way down, and I ended up stronger for it.

This year will be no different. I've got 4k (a lot for me!) ready to invest later this week. This dip just means I am getting it all on sale

 

[plattj1]

Down 1.38% today, still remain up 1.6% YTD.

 

[Donzo]

I'm down 2.6% approx.....But am still up for the year - let alone last.

I am gonna watch closely and if this slide continues I will take some money off the sidelines to get a bargain - I feel my "huevos" throbbing! Gotta stay strong and play the hand delt.

This is money I don't have to touch for years if necessary-could be an opportunity.

Pretty exciting stuff..............

 

[dusk_to_dawn]

Not sure yet, but I'm guessing I'll have my first "five digit loss" day. Guess that's going to set back the FIRE date 2.3452 months!

I think I just had my first five digit loss day. No problem.

I can remember back to my first four digit loss day around 1992 or 93. I remember thinking, "I'm sure this won't be the last time I lose over 1,000 in a day." Now I lose or gain that much on a slow day. I guess I should look forward to the day when I gain or lose 100,000+ on a slow day.

 

[youbet]

I'm sure someone on this board see 6 digits today. Ouch!

Hellooooooooo! Well, I'm pretty agressively positioned for an old retired guy!

 

[mountaintosea]

I'm down about 3.2%. That's a combination of mutual funds and individual stocks. Being at work and only finding out about the market at lunch here in the pacific time zone, I guess has it's advantages and disadvantages. I suppose if I were watching it at home there wouldn't be much I would do anyway. At lunch though all you can do is grimace and go back to the job. I didn't watch the drama unfold. Blood pressure didn't go up. I thought Cramer's take was interesting. Wished it would have waited until March 1 to take the plunge. I usually do an accounting the last day of the month. Now my little chart I make up won't look so good. But been through it before. Rats!

Just noticed Asian Markets down again on Wednesday.

 

[Sam]

Down 4%, YTD is 1% (down from 6% just 2 weeks ago). OUCH!!!

Interesting results so far. 8 people have gained! Majority has loss less than 3%. You guys are definitely well diversified.

Most intriguing is 5 "I don't like this poll, I won't vote"!!!

 

[Gillette]

Like Rich, blind dumb luck means we're neutral. We're in the process of changing brokers. Yesterday it was all in cash for the switch. I'm dying for it to be credited so we can get back in at a bargain.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Barely a scratch.

Wow, was THAT good luck timing...

 

[laurence]

I honestly don't know, not worth it to do the math, but probably close to 3%, so over $3,000. I DCA another $500 into the market on Friday, hope it hasn't recovered too much by then.

 

[wabmester]

I wasn't down too much, but I don't think it's over yet. Nikkei is down about 600 points right now.

 

[LOL!]

I wasn't down too much, but I don't think it's over yet. Nikkei is down about 600 points right now.

This is just a catching up with the rest of the world markets. In the previous session the Nikkei was down only 0.5%.

In today's global markets it is difficult sometimes to tell who sneezed first and who sneezed last. The current (at this time) NYTimes homepage has a nice timeline for yesterday.

 

[Tadpole]

It struck me that, although my loses were not as great as some, I probably had run up less gains for the year. Why don't you wait until March 1 and get people's YTD for the first three months.

 

[bpp]

This is just a catching up with the rest of the world markets. In the previous session the Nikkei was down only 0.5%.

After today's session (it is now evening of 28 Feb., JST), I am down 5% from my peak of Monday evening, which puts my portfolio back to where it was about a month ago. Not very dramatic. (Yet?)

 

[ladelfina]

-3.88%

GAINERS: What're you holding? Wanna let us in on it?

 

[Budman]

My total portfolio was down about .84%. But what I thought was very interesting while my S&P fund was down 3.48%, my Fidelity High Income junk bond fund (SPHIX)was down only .33%. I expected a much larger impact on the junk.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

-3.7%, 96% invested. Just noise level. And you don't "lose" until you sell. Although, the idea that one could live for a year in Ecuador/Mexico/whatever on the one-day change is an interesting way to look at it.

Rebalanced over the past few days. This little glitch eliminated the need to touch two funds.

 

[Craig]

I'm not going to calculate ... no point,really. This is tiny. 20%, 30% ... that will be noticable. I recall October 19, 1987 ... that one hurt, but taught me well.

The following are the top ten worst day of losses for the Dow Jones industrial average. From left to right are rank, date, points down and percentage down:

1 — 9/17/01: -684.81 points, -7.13 percent

2 — 4/14/00: -617.78, -5.66

3 — 10/27/97: -554.26, -7.18

4 — 8/31/98: -512.61, -6.37

5 — 10/19/87: -508.00, -22.61

6 — 3/12/01: -436.37, -4.10

7 — 2/27/07: -416.02, -3.30

8 — 7/19/02: -390.23, -4.64

9 — 9/20/01: -382.92, -4.37

10 — 10/12/00: -379.21, -3.63

 

[Running_Man]

-3.7%, 96% invested. Just noise level. And you don't "lose" until you sell. Although, the idea that one could live for a year in Ecuador/Mexico/whatever on the one-day change is an interesting way to look at it.

Rebalanced over the past few days. This little glitch eliminated the need to touch two funds.

When you are 96% invested what is "rebalancing?" Does that mean change stock types say from international to S&P500 or was it your stock % had fallen to 94% and you moved it back to 96%?

 

[Outtahere]

I only took a 1% hit, it probably would have been more had I invested the lump sum I was going to a couple months ago. I decided to DCA it $10k at a time over the next few months, I'm glad I did.