2020 Investment Performance Thread

[GTFan]

Another buy and hold type that talked myself out of adjusting AA a month or so ago. Down 21% on 60/35/5.

We’re good but coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Same here with same AA. We'd be ok until it goes down 75% or so but at that point we're well into a Depression so everyone's screwed. The financial system will have collapsed and we'll have much more serious stuff to worry about, like whether we have enough guns and ammo.

Saw this coming from China a couple of months ago and considered getting out of equities, but almost all of ours is in taxable so liquidating to bonds would've incurred huge CGs. At this point we're just riding it out until we hit bottom, then rebalance, tax loss harvest etc.

We're nowhere near bottom.

 

[statsman]

Given that I am mostly out of equities now they can't get much worse for me.

You would think. We came into this year roughly 0/50/50, with DW and I discussing a move of a good deal of the cash into equity and bond funds. We didn't. At this moment, that seems like a brilliant move, but the bond funds are getting whacked harder than I ever imagined. I haven't looked this month, but I know we're down quite a bit this month and YTD.

For individuals such as my DW and I (especially her) who absolutely fear investing in the stock markets, the drop in bond funds has been unsettling, to say the least. With a WR of under 0.5%, we shouldn't worry too much, and it's a big reason why we felt we could jump back into the stock markets after being out of them for years.

 

[Rianne]

I just checked...I'm down about 9.7% from 12/31/18. And only down about 4.3% from the bottom of that little dip, which was 12/24/18.

Still, the last time my overall balance was this low was August 2017. But, like most things, time softens all wounds. Getting put back to the Summer of 17 isn't so bad. In contrast, at the bottom of the Great Recession, I calculated that I had lost every dollar of profit I had ever made!

This is the way I look at it too. We are well above the amount when we decided to RE. Although, DH still consulting which is still providing income. At the time we RE, ~2014, I kept calculating worse case scenarios with that balance at the time. Staying the course, not selling.

 

[Dtail]

You would think. We came into this year roughly 0/50/50, with DW and I discussing a move of a good deal of the cash into equity and bond funds. We didn't. At this moment, that seems like a brilliant move, but the bond funds are getting whacked harder than I ever imagined. I haven't looked this month, but I know we're down quite a bit this month and YTD.

For individuals such as my DW and I (especially her) who absolutely fear investing in the stock markets, the drop in bond funds has been unsettling, to say the least. With a WR of under 0.5%, we shouldn't worry too much, and it's a big reason why we felt we could jump back into the stock markets after being out of them for years.

Why not switch your current bond funds into Treasury bond funds, if you happen to believe there is further damage coming?

 

[sengsational]

Rules are rules. No peeking til March 32nd.
[emoji51]

Like seeing a bad accident... you tell yourself "Don't look." but you do...

But I didn't look, and haven't looked. I'm waiting for 3/32/2020.

Today was the first day I've read this thread since February close, so I consider that "sneaking a peek", though, because there are a few regulars here that consistently report nearly identical results as me.

 

[REWahoo]

But I didn't look, and haven't looked. I'm waiting for 3/32/2020.

That's what I would call "remarkable restraint".

 

[Dtail]

That's what I would call "remarkable restraint".

Especially since that day will never come....

 

[Toocold]

I got a nice notice from personal capital that I'm down 5% this week vs S&P -15%. I guess I could interpret that my overall beta is .33 (at least for this week) when the market is crashing.

 

[RobLJ]

-15.5% YTD today.

"It's only a flesh wound" (Black Knight in MP&Holy Grail)

 

[wmc1000]

down -28.8% as of Fridays close. Still slightly ahead of Dec. 2018 low point.

 

[Perryinva]

At this point it doesn’t even feel like real money. $100k ups and down per day is surreal. Years of salary gained and lost in a week.

 

[audreyh1]

I would like to know just out of sheer curiosity, does 24% or 30% down in any given year REALLY make a difference to anyone here? If not what is the real pain point? Yes if you are like me you do not like any financial pain points, but we all have our limits. Mine is about 5% down.... LOL

Well no, and I am very aware that up and down is temporary, constantly changing. I take a pay cut one year, get a raise another year. I’ve got lots of buffers, doesn’t really matter to me.

I’ve watched the equity markets in disbelief since early 2017. Even the late 2018 correction was quite brief. So even though our assets were way up, it didn’t seem “real”. I didn’t get emotionally invested in the peak numbers as they seemed too good to be true.

 

[LOL!]

I'll put this here, too. Asset allocations for this date have not been confirmed.

YTD (March 27, 2020) returns for a collection of 'close-to' 60/40 funds (from Morningstar.com):

-13.62% VSMGX Vg LifeStrategy Moderate Growth (60/40)
-12.52% VBIAX Vg Balanced Index (60/40), no foreign
-16.47% DGSIX DFA Global 60/40 I, small-cap & value tilted
-13.71% VTTVX Vg Target Retirement 2025 (62/38)
-12.26% FQIFX Fidelity Freedom Index 2025 (59/41)

-11.40% VTWNX Vg Target Retirement 2020 (53/47)*
-14.96% VWENX Vg Wellington (67/33)*

Some others
+00.38% VMMXX Vg Prime Money Market
+03.07% VBTLX Vg Total US Bond Index
-03.18% VSCSX Vg Short-term corporate bond index
-22.12% VTSAX Vg Total US Stock Market
-25.07% VTIAX Vg Total Int'l Stock Market
-23.95% VGSLX Vg REIT Index
-35,16% VSIAX Vg Small Cap Value Index
-14.86% MTUM IShares USA Momentum Factor ETF

*These 2 funds VTWNX and VWENX are outliers because they are not that close to a 60/40 asset allocation this year.

 

[Freedom56]

As of the market close today, I'm up .6% YTD (81% bonds, 19% cash/MM) I was up 4% YTD after being up 20.5% last year. My bond premiums are down about 6-7% but are starting to recover. The bond purchases I made during the recent plunge are up as much as 14% which is good for bonds. I also grew my cash position by buying and selling many investment grade preferred stocks. If the premiums start driving the yields down below 2.5%, I'm going to start unloading the lower coupon issues. Let the bond funds have them - they like buying high and selling low. The announcement of government corporate bond buying has provided some temporary support and stability in both investment grade and high yield corporate bonds. I'm going to keep my portfolio focused on technology (semi-conductor, storage), pharma, biotech, telecom, and large financials and avoid everything else. Healthcare and "work from home" will be the new Wall Street theme.

In my opinion, equities are still overpriced. There are about 30 stocks that most funds are crowding into that are over-weighting the indices. A large portion of the S&P 500 will be totally wiped out. Over the next few months you will see many companies announcing reverse stock splits to avoid de-listing. When that happens, the short sellers start pounding those stocks down to zero.

 

[dvalley]

Not to jinx it or anything I just noticed compared to Mar 23rd I'm $100k recovered. Still down $130k YTD or $170k down since the feb high. Crazy.

 

[Ed B]

As of March 31

-12.95%

 

[pb4uski]

Will be traveling over the weekend... but -5.15% YTD through today. Ugh.

Ugh turned to ugly... -18.96% through March 31.

 

[gamboolman]

As of 31-Mar-20 we are down <11.44%> from 1-Jan-20

 

[jimbee]

YTD is -9.09%.

 

[tdv2]

Q1 - YTD - down 12.8%.

 

[KCGeezer]

-14.1 for me. Think I’ll focus on rolling 12 or 36 month instead.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Down 31.15% 85/15 AA

 

[Markola]

50/50 allocation. Bond half is up, stocks are down. Overall, it’s an -11.1% decline for 2020 year to date. Down -1.9% for the last 12 months. Not lifting a pinky and sleeping fine at night.

 

[street]

Down 14.73% YTD. Not good but could be worse. I still feel very fortunate and just need to hunker down and wait the storm out. The one blessing I have, just like many here, I don't need my investments to live on.

 

[RetireAge50]

-15.3% YTD
Nothing sold this quarter except used cash for expenses. Currently 68/19/13