Jan 2008 damage poll

[tiredofwork]

Annualized Quicken IRR of 17.35% for Jan08, but one month doesn't mean much.

 

[hogtied]

-1.15%, 55% equities, soon to buy 5% more!

 

[audreyh1]

Are we back to the bull after a short steep correction? Or are we experiencing a bear market rally?

Ha

I could see how the current market event could be more like 1998, with a couple of financial crises, but quick enough action taken that the pain is short in duration. Perhaps ARM resets are no longer a threat. And if they DO somehow manage to shore up the mortgage insurers, then it seems like the way has been paved to ease out of the mess.

Yet my gut says that a big bubble was blown, and it might take longer to settle out particularly now that the damage seems to have spread enough to influence the rest of the economy.

It's impossible to know. It does seem as if the economy hit some kind of brick wall late in Q4. 0.6% GDP growth? After, what, 4.8% in Q3? Unfortunately those GDP number get revised some much they make your head spin.

Whatever....

I did rebalance into some REIT funds and some funds with high exposure to financials in early Jan. Those funds are behaving very nicely YTD. It's mostly the growth stocks which are being taken out and shot.

Audrey

 

[Mavourneen]

My return in January was -1.12%.

Preferred stocks came back in a big way. My preferred position was down almost 20% in 2007. Also in January, Treasuries and GNMAs had a nice return. Real Estate was about even.

 

[KM]

Down 3.4% with 66% equities, 34% bond/fixed income.

 

[Kate16]

I'm down 4% for January. 82% equity / 18% bonds

Kate

Oops, I'm actually only down 3% for January, I had forgotten to update prices for one of the investments.

I'm down about 6.5% from my high in June of 2007.

Kate

 

[Texas Proud]

I decided to check my 'testosterone' account... and am up 27% in Jan... but still down 30% from my high.... to bad it is not much money...

 

[loosechickens]

Down a bit in January, but we spent two months in Europe last fall, plus we bought a new Prius in December, paid the estimated tax on capital gains taken last year, and still aren't below our 2007 gains, so I feel o.k. When the portfolio drops below what it was a year ago, then I'll consider that it's down. As long as we're still working on last year's gain, it's o.k. by me.

LooseChickens

 

[megacorp-firee]

Down a bit in January, but we spent two months in Europe last fall, plus we bought a new Prius in December, paid the estimated tax on capital gains taken last year, and still aren't below our 2007 gains, so I feel o.k. When the portfolio drops below what it was a year ago, then I'll consider that it's down. As long as we're still working on last year's gain, it's o.k. by me.

LooseChickens

'Rationalization is better than sex ... have you ever gone a day without a rationalization?' The Big Chill

No worries loose ... It's all good ...