This time is different!!

[Retire52]

I'm about 95% equities so it's not looking too good on that side, but I got a little nervous at the end of 2019 and sold to build 2 years in cash in the event of a down turn. Proving once again it's better to be lucky than smart.[emoji3]

Though, after the 15% dive, I did turn off my auto monthly sell order. Since the tea leaves tell me we maybe going into bear territory soon, I'll suggest to DW to hold off on the remodel project that we had also stock piled cash for and live off it and our cash to ride out this panic attack in the market.

On a lighter side, I was holding my 14 year old daughter's $4k in a money market account while waiting for a small downward dip to buy equities, and talked her into scooping up some VTSAX while it was on sale. She thinks I'm Warren Buffet!

 

[Markola]

Just for kicks [emoji322] , following the $80K dive in our portfolio in one week, I checked the new Success Rate for the two retirement calculators I use. Personal Capital has gone from 87% to 83% while Vanguard Personal Advisor Services has held steady at 97%. I prefer Vanguard’s!

 

[Dash man]

Just for kicks [emoji322] , following the $80K dive in our portfolio in one week, I checked the new Success Rate for the two retirement calculators I use. Personal Capital has gone from 87% to 83% while Vanguard Personal Advisor Services has held steady at 97%. I prefer Vanguard’s!

I wish I had only lost $80k!

 

[ugeauxgirl]

I wish I had only lost $80k!

Yes, 80k is how much my 401k is down. The rest of the portfolio is down too. My fault for having a mostly equity AA. Oh well, it'll come back.

 

[albireo13]

I am not going to look at my accounts c

 

[Bir48die]

Everyone talks about the market and AA which is very important. No one talks about how emotional the market is. When you get down to it you can have all the fundamentals that prove one thing but we are a society of "pack animals". Once something happens contrary to what we want then it's chaos and trying to rationalize events. So, just make a decision long term then live with it.

 

[GreenEggs]

I've got some real estate that I'm trying to sell. This correction should be good for real estate sales, right? I mean folks will have cash that they're pulled out of the stock market, so it will be easier for them to spend it on property.

Making lemonade.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

I've got some real estate that I'm trying to sell. This correction should be good for real estate sales, right? I mean folks will have cash that they're pulled out of the stock market, so it will be easier for them to spend it on property.

Making lemonade.

No. If the market continues down then real estate will follow. There will likely be a lag, but it will happen.

Not just real estate but things like high end auto sales, luxury items, RV sales, even things like higher priced colleges (lower end schools like community colleges would be likely beneficiaries).

I’m down the price of a decent town house (at least in some MCOL areas). I was toying with the idea of buying a place in a certain area if my DS went to school there. However I am now in wait and see mode. While this is just a single data point (and I could easily swing the town house), there ARE people out there whose down payment or ability to move up or perhaps even college tuition has been impacted. There are companies who will be reassessing hiring if this gets worse or drags on.

 

[cyber888]

[emoji122]Take your money from equities .. wait another 10% down .. buy everything ... [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]. The virus is here to stay for a while. 1918 Spanish flu is back

 

[Fermion]

I've got some real estate that I'm trying to sell. This correction should be good for real estate sales, right? I mean folks will have cash that they're pulled out of the stock market, so it will be easier for them to spend it on property.

Making lemonade.

Uhm...well, I am kind of waiting for real estate to drop. In our area it has gone up way faster than inflation and really could use a 50% pullback like 2008.

 

[Dash man]

No. If the market continues down then real estate will follow. There will likely be a lag, but it will happen.

Not just real estate but things like high end auto sales, luxury items, RV sales, even things like higher priced colleges (lower end schools like community colleges would be likely beneficiaries).

I’m down the price of a decent town house (at least in some MCOL areas). I was toying with the idea of buying a place in a certain area if my DS went to school there. However I am now in wait and see mode. While this is just a single data point (and I could easily swing the town house), there ARE people out there whose down payment or ability to move up or perhaps even college tuition has been impacted. There are companies who will be reassessing hiring if this gets worse or drags on.

My son and his family are planning to move near us and we’ll be buying a townhome for them to live in. Our portfolio has gone down more than what we’ll pay for the home. I hope it’s a quick rebound.

 

[Rianne]

This time is different for the farmers in the Midwest. I listened to the Farmer's Report yesterday. Not only are they getting hit by the bizarre weather, flooding...our fields have literal lakes in them, the stock market just added another layer of worry and frustration.

 

[Lcountz]

I made Traditional to Roth conversions this week, but not all of it that I can this year....

I just wish I could contain my anxiety and not be so "nasty" to friends of mine who are not in the market or not as informed as I am about daily market swings and other so call "news"...

I was pretty short tempered this week. I tried to mitigate by telling people right off that I was in a bad mood and it wasn't them....still.... Gotta work on that...

This too shall pass.

 

[Mdlerth]

I'm famous too, at least to my dogs

A famous guy famously said "When people get scared, I get greedy."

Words to live by.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I wish I had only lost $80k!

I profoundly wish that I was down a lot more than the ~$100k I am down!

 

[Rianne]

I profoundly wish that I was down a lot more than the ~$100k I am down!

Down from what? Our 1 year gains are 13.3%. I don't believe in day to day or even month to month gains. Long term gains matter most to me. It's seems irrelevant until you sell, so saying you're down $100K, what does that mean?

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Down from what? Our 1 year gains are 13.3%. I don't believe in day to day or even month to month gains. Long term gains matter most to me. It's seems irrelevant until you sell, so saying you're down $100K, what does that mean?

Well, I meant down from the peak, that is all. I thought it would be obvious that I merely meant that I wish I had the "problem" that Dash Man had of having enough money that the small correction we just encountered resulted in paper losses of more than $100k.

As for me, I, too, am a long-term, passive investor who intends to take no action except to rebalance at the time or rebalance band my IPS calls for.

As for the correction? Meh. Back to levels last seen in the distant past of 3Q2019!

 

[dvalley]

I was hoping for the market to go down into the bear territory. That way once we come out of it in a few months we'll be good for another 5-10yrs of gains which is when I'm looking to pull the plug.

 

[NW-Bound]

I was hoping for the market to go down into the bear territory. That way once we come out of it in a few months we'll be good for another 5-10yrs of gains which is when I'm looking to pull the plug.

You are not on this forum in the 2008-2009 market fiasco, but I was. And I saw many younger ER-wannabe's who were still working and had the money to plow into the market came out doing really well. And some of them retired happily into the sunset a few years later.

I was not quite at the point of being FI due to two college-age children. And my part-time contracting work was also disrupted due to the employer running out of money. And my wife already ER'ed. Still, I managed to survive.

At this point, my expenses are a lot lower, and my war chest is larger. And I am already retired and can tap into SS if I want to. So, I can afford to be a lot calmer this time, at least from the financial aspect.

For people still working, it is prudent to think about the employment security, which may be more important than the investment prospect. People working in the hospitality sector may feel the pinch already as their employer's business drops. I don't know how other sectors get affected, other than indirectly via an economic slowdown.

 

[Dash man]

Well, I meant down from the peak, that is all. I thought it would be obvious that I merely meant that I wish I had the "problem" that Dash Man had of having enough money that the small correction we just encountered resulted in paper losses of more than $100k.

I suppose it’s a good problem to have, but it’s a punch in the gut when it drops ~$500k. Especially when we’ve been planning some major expenditures soon. But I didn’t panic and sell. I actually bought some AAPL and V, plus added to the grandkids college funds.

 

[Henry Lili]

You are not on this forum in the 2008-2009 market fiasco, but I was. And I saw many younger ER-wannabe's who were still working and had the money to plow into the market came out doing really well. And some of them retired happily into the sunset a few years later.

I was not quite at the point of being FI due to two college-age children. And my part-time contracting work was also disrupted due to the employer running out of money. And my wife already ER'ed. Still, I managed to survive.

At this point, my expenses are a lot lower, and my war chest is larger. And I am already retired and can tap into SS if I want to. So, I can afford to be a lot calmer this time, at least from the financial aspect.

For people still working, it is prudent to think about the employment security, which may be more important than the investment prospect. People working in the hospitality sector may feel the pinch already as their employer's business drops. I don't know how other sectors get affected, other than indirectly via an economic slowdown.

As a FT corporate drone, I kept putting mony into stocks in 08, 09 and beyond both maxing 401k/IRA and taxable accounts.
Each week something went into equities. Pulled the ER trigger in September 2013 a couple months shy of 47.

 

[stepford]

I vividly remember the S&P tanking to a bit under 1900 immediately after I retired in late 2015. I felt like I still had enough to retire on then so the current drop, though unpleasant, is just noise. If it keeps dropping down to early 2009 levels, though, I may be a bit less blithe about the whole thing.

 

[GravitySucks]

YEAH Baby!

As a FT corporate drone, I kept putting mony into stocks in 08, 09 and beyond both maxing 401k/IRA and taxable accounts.
Each week something went into equities. Pulled the ER trigger in September 2013 a couple months shy of 47.

 

[Oakster]

Absolutely! But it is a great time to do in kind conversions from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Move the shares and pay less tax because of the lower values!

Really good point. I had not thought of that before.

 

[SoReadyToRetire]

Ha—lucky me—I retired on 2/7. It’s been quite the ride, especially since my spouse and I aren’t on the same page when it comes to asset allocation.