The crash has postponed my retirement, though my dear wife gave up her lucrative job for minimum wage at the Humane Society just before the crash. (Timing is everything.
)
As part of the process of accepting the change in my portfolio's value, I decided to keep a reserve of 4 to 5 years expenses in Cash/Bonds, but to otherwise maintaining my pre-crash 70% equities allocation. So I've been buying equities. Though now I'm running out of ammo unless I dip into my 4 to 5 years of reserves.
Apparently I jumped in too early. At least all "new" money will continue to go into equities until they exceed 70% of my portfolio. Though that mostly just consists of reinvested dividends these days.
My father, now in his 70's, decided to freeze his equity holdings, and to live off his bonds until the market comes back. Increasing his equity holdings while he thinks equities will/may keep going down wouldn't let him sleep well. He also has a much shorter time horizon than I do.
I think both of us probably made the right decision. With my j*b, I want to swing for the fences, and maximize my odds of escaping early, which pretty much requires lots of equities. Sure, stocks could drop another 50% from here, but I'll probably either keep my j*b, and/or stocks will bounce within four years. So the gamble seems worth while. With his short time horizon, adding stocks is just too risky. He is better off sticking with bonds, and trying to pull in his spending a bit.
I think the right answer for you depends on your time horizon, and your sleep-at-night tolerance for equities.
