Moved money from stocks to guaranteed today.....good idea?

[Dhickman57]

Been wanting to rebalance for awhile, did it today. Was that a poor decision.

 

[RockyMtn]

Been wanting to rebalance for awhile, did it today. Was that a poor decision.

Time will tell. I know this much though...last Friday would have been a better day to move money to "guaranteed".

 

[jollystomper]

Been wanting to rebalance for awhile, did it today. Was that a poor decision.

It's only a flesh wound...

 

[ghsebldr]

Enjoyed the run up over the last few years and have moved a quarter of my taxable over to ATT. Just over 5% dividend. I've been enjoying their divis now for the last ten years in a SEP. Given the interest rates here lately I'm wondering if that's a mistake or not?
Not trying to hijack your thread 57, just another lost soul looking for guidance.

 

[CaliKid]

Been wanting to rebalance for awhile, did it today. Was that a poor decision.

Ask again in a year or two. I can better judge your decision then.

 

[RenoJay]

No way to know til time ticks away. Don’t spend time second guessing. Just try to figure out what prompted the decision (was it the massive selling in the market or your own calculation of fair value) and then use that info to decide if your asset allocation matches your overall risk tolerance.

 

[pn3069]

Enjoyed the run up over the last few years and have moved a quarter of my taxable over to ATT. Just over 5% dividend. I've been enjoying their divis now for the last ten years in a SEP. Given the interest rates here lately I'm wondering if that's a mistake or not?
Not trying to hijack your thread 57, just another lost soul looking for guidance.

It depends on what % of your total portfolio AT&T is now. I typically do not exceed 3% of my portfolio for any single stock - no matter how good I feel about it.

Many good stocks fell on the way side... Kraft Heinz, GE, Macys, etc etc.. today cruiseline stocks lost about 10% in one day.

 

[RetireAge50]

No. Yes.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Who knows if it was a good idea or not? I can say I moved some of my tIRA money into a balanced fund a few months back. So I am about 50% stocks, so I can hopefully endure whatever the market does.

 

[Dhickman57]

Thanks for the input, as I agree with all, only time will tell. As early as tomorrow, if stocks continue down: good move.
If stocks return to previous levels: bad move. Either way I needed to rebalance back to my more conservative level of stock / guaranteed mix to get back to a comfortable level for me. My timing was probably bad. Thanks again.

 

[ckelly78z]

Last September I went safe (for a month) on a downturn. If I would have stayed put in equities, my YTD return would have been 34.7%, I only achieved 29.8%.

Market timing doesn't work for most.

 

[mrfeh]

Choose an AA. Rebalance according to predetermined metrics.

Keep emotions/politics/news out of the process.

 

[kgtest]

Choose an AA. Rebalance according to predetermined metrics.

Keep emotions/politics/news out of the process.

+1. Automagic! PRESTO!

 

[yakers]

Yesterday, today and very possibly tomorrow-very good idea. Down the road a bit, who knows?

 

[racy]

Why didn’t you get out at the high last week instead of locking in stock losses now? When is the low?

 

[easysurfer]

Choose an AA. Rebalance according to predetermined metrics.

Keep emotions/politics/news out of the process.

Yup! That's my approach .

 

[corn18]

If you don't have an Investment Policy Statement (IPS), then write one down. That's what keeps me from doing stupid things on a whim. Like pulling out after stocks drop 6%. Without it, I would still be buying naked puts and GE stock.

Here's mine. Hasn't changed much since I first wrote it. I read it when my bonus and RSU's vest and I am debating which supercar I NEED.

Objective: $XXM in retirement savings with a paid off house.

Asset Allocation (AA): 60% stocks / 40% bonds with 25% of stocks international

Rebalance when AA gets outside of 5% or annually

Invest in very low cost index funds

Live within retirement budget and save the rest.

Do backdoor Roth for myself and wife annually. Leave in cash in traditional IRA while waiting to roll over to Roth. Wait one week to do roll over to Roth to allow funds to clear. Once in Roth, lump sum investment into total stock market index fund.

Invest maximum allowed in 401k at a rate that maximizes company match. Use 401k to manage 60/40 AA. Invest only in low cost index funds where possible in 401k.

Invest maximum allowed in 401k after tax and do a mega backdoor Roth annually. Lump sum investment into total stock market index fund.

Invest 6% into company SSP II plan to get the 6% match.

Invest a minimum of $75k annually in taxable account.

Minimize current taxes by investing only in total stock and international stock index funds in taxable account. Tax free muni bond fund up to $50k is also allowed in the taxable account. Minimize taxes by concentrating bonds in 401k.

Maximize growth in Roth accounts by investing in total stock market index funds.

Restricted Stock Units (RSU): When RSU's vest, sell immediately and invest the money in a lump sum in accordance with my Asset Allocation (AA) in my taxable retirement account.

Bonus: Invest entire bonus each year in a lump sum in accordance with my Asset Allocation (AA) in my taxable retirement account.

Military Pension: Invest 100% of pension in taxable account.

Life Ins: Maintain multiple term life policies laddered until age 78. As savings becomes sufficient to maintain DW current lifestyle with low risk, policies will be allowed to end without renewal.

Inheritance: let my wife decide what to do after waiting three months.

 

[Bruno]

I am not sure that rebalancing mean to sell everything and put it into cash. Then buy back... To me that more like timing the market.

With that being said: Are you happy and feel SAFE That is what would matter to me.

 

[OldShooter]

Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Background: From a day or two before the end of the year until now I've sold about $125k worth of equities between my accounts and one for my child. In terms of the end of year sales, for DC, it was partly tax gain harvesting (in a UTMA), for me simply touching the brakes just a tiny bit in terms of equity allocation. The rest of the sales were into the rally of the last couple weeks (prior to the big selling), with the exception of selling 25K worth this past Friday.

Yesterday just before the close was my first dipping of toes into the market, I bought 100 ABBV @ 89.02. We will see, the play here is that drugs should do relatively better and ABBV has an HIV anti-viral that has been used for COVID-19 treatments.

Events like these will result in winners and losers. Perhaps many more losers than eventual winners, but there will be some. An interesting discussion might be who those (perhaps few) winners might be.

Don't get me wrong, I, like many others here have had a lot of recent pain...in my case a quick calculation tells me close to $200K worth since the market peak on 2/29/20.

 

[Dtail]

Background: From a day or two before the end of the year until now I've sold about $125k worth of equities between my accounts and one for my child. In terms of the end of year sales, for DC, it was partly tax gain harvesting (in a UTMA), for me simply touching the brakes just a tiny bit in terms of equity allocation. The rest of the sales were into the rally of the last couple weeks (prior to the big selling), with the exception of selling 25K worth this past Friday.

Yesterday just before the close was my first dipping of toes into the market, I bought 100 ABBV @ 89.02. We will see, the play here is that drugs should do relatively better and ABBV has an HIV anti-viral that has been used for COVID-19 treatments.

Events like these will result in winners and losers. Perhaps many more losers than eventual winners, but there will be some. An interesting discussion might be who those (perhaps few) winners might be.

Don't get me wrong, I, like many others here have had a lot of recent pain...in my case a quick calculation tells me close to $200K worth since the market peak on 2/29/20.

Make that 02/19/20 I presume.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Been wanting to rebalance for awhile, did it today. Was that a poor decision.

I think that depends on your goals. We whittled down our stocks after 2008 because our goal is more of a stop when we've won the game mentality than a max out the most possible earnings for our portfolio one.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Make that 02/19/20 I presume.

Yes, 2/19. Thanks.

 

[WyomingLife]

If you don't have an Investment Policy Statement (IPS), then write one down. That's what keeps me from doing stupid things on a whim. Like pulling out after stocks drop 6%. Without it, I would still be buying naked puts and GE stock.

Here's mine. Hasn't changed much since I first wrote it. I read it when my bonus and RSU's vest and I am debating which supercar I NEED.

Objective: $XXM in retirement savings with a paid off house.

Asset Allocation (AA): 60% stocks / 40% bonds with 25% of stocks international

Rebalance when AA gets outside of 5% or annually

Invest in very low cost index funds

Live within retirement budget and save the rest.

Do backdoor Roth for myself and wife annually. Leave in cash in traditional IRA while waiting to roll over to Roth. Wait one week to do roll over to Roth to allow funds to clear. Once in Roth, lump sum investment into total stock market index fund.

Invest maximum allowed in 401k at a rate that maximizes company match. Use 401k to manage 60/40 AA. Invest only in low cost index funds where possible in 401k.

Invest maximum allowed in 401k after tax and do a mega backdoor Roth annually. Lump sum investment into total stock market index fund.

Invest 6% into company SSP II plan to get the 6% match.

Invest a minimum of $75k annually in taxable account.

Minimize current taxes by investing only in total stock and international stock index funds in taxable account. Tax free muni bond fund up to $50k is also allowed in the taxable account. Minimize taxes by concentrating bonds in 401k.

Maximize growth in Roth accounts by investing in total stock market index funds.

Restricted Stock Units (RSU): When RSU's vest, sell immediately and invest the money in a lump sum in accordance with my Asset Allocation (AA) in my taxable retirement account.

Bonus: Invest entire bonus each year in a lump sum in accordance with my Asset Allocation (AA) in my taxable retirement account.

Military Pension: Invest 100% of pension in taxable account.

Life Ins: Maintain multiple term life policies laddered until age 78. As savings becomes sufficient to maintain DW current lifestyle with low risk, policies will be allowed to end without renewal.

Inheritance: let my wife decide what to do after waiting three months.

+3

And reason #596,386 why this board is such a tremendous resource.

Thanks for that post.

 

[corn18]

+3

And reason #596,386 why this board is such a tremendous resource.

Thanks for that post.

I just used my IPS again today. Was thinking about buying a new travel trailer but was tight on cash because we are moving. Well, I can just reduce my savings to buy the camper (not save my pension). Well, that violates the IPS so that's a nogo. So we have to wait. Darn.