WyomingLife
Recycles dryer sheets
A bad day in the stock market today is vastly less stressful than what the Apollo 13 astronauts were dealing with 50 years ago today, literally to the very minute: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/
What has this drastic financial situation tought you?
- Thread starter mickeyd
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Spanky
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Yes, it is definitely extremely stressful to the astronauts for a few moment. But a financial crisis could lead to a recession, massive unemployment, higher levels of anxiety, stress and depression for an indefinite period. A large number of people will be negatively affected instead of a few astronauts.
Closet_Gamer
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I think I've had many of the thing I believe re-enforced and validated.
Its reminded me not to lose my center in terms of be prepared for really bad things to happen.
1) My AA and overall financial approach is sound.
Every part of my financial plan -- equity/bonds/deferred comp/cash/college fund/home equity and LBYM -- is doing what its supposed to right now. I'm down a lot but the balance sheet is water tight, I'm sleeping fine, and have been accelerating money into the market rather than hiding.
2) Its good to work in a large, stable company despite headaches.
3) Glad I paid off the house.
Mathematically it was a bad decision, but on a personal level its "off the list" and even if I did lose my job and the market dropped 90%, we have a roof over our head.
4) Life is not a balance sheet exercise...get out there and enjoy it.
We hosted a family reunion last year. My wife and I thrashed endlessly about whether to spend the money on the ocean front rental or save money and stay back a block. Glad we rented the ocean front. My portfolio goes +/- the cost of the entire reunion each day. But we'll have the pics/memories forever.
This also applies to charity and donating appreciate shares to a donor advised fund when the market is up. A structured, repeated and long term approach to charity is very valuable and counter-cyclical in its own way.
5) Reagan was right ... the scariest words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
I think history will conclude that the lasting damage was from the government response and not the virus. Both in the lack of preparation for a pandemic (which would have been cheap) and the over-reaction in terms of shutting down the world (which is potentially catastrophic.).
6). Churchhill was right ..."Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others."
For whatever problems we're facing in #5, I believe this is China's Chernobyl and the same autocratic instincts that led to that disaster contributed to this one. In the recent "Chernobyl" mini-series they end by saying that "every lie incurs a debt to the truth." Once again, the bill came due.
We should all answer this question again in 90 days!
Its reminded me not to lose my center in terms of be prepared for really bad things to happen.
1) My AA and overall financial approach is sound.
Every part of my financial plan -- equity/bonds/deferred comp/cash/college fund/home equity and LBYM -- is doing what its supposed to right now. I'm down a lot but the balance sheet is water tight, I'm sleeping fine, and have been accelerating money into the market rather than hiding.
2) Its good to work in a large, stable company despite headaches.
3) Glad I paid off the house.
Mathematically it was a bad decision, but on a personal level its "off the list" and even if I did lose my job and the market dropped 90%, we have a roof over our head.
4) Life is not a balance sheet exercise...get out there and enjoy it.
We hosted a family reunion last year. My wife and I thrashed endlessly about whether to spend the money on the ocean front rental or save money and stay back a block. Glad we rented the ocean front. My portfolio goes +/- the cost of the entire reunion each day. But we'll have the pics/memories forever.
This also applies to charity and donating appreciate shares to a donor advised fund when the market is up. A structured, repeated and long term approach to charity is very valuable and counter-cyclical in its own way.
5) Reagan was right ... the scariest words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
I think history will conclude that the lasting damage was from the government response and not the virus. Both in the lack of preparation for a pandemic (which would have been cheap) and the over-reaction in terms of shutting down the world (which is potentially catastrophic.).
6). Churchhill was right ..."Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others."
For whatever problems we're facing in #5, I believe this is China's Chernobyl and the same autocratic instincts that led to that disaster contributed to this one. In the recent "Chernobyl" mini-series they end by saying that "every lie incurs a debt to the truth." Once again, the bill came due.
We should all answer this question again in 90 days!
OldShooter
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Eloquent! Thank you.
Spanky
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
The primary lesson is that "experts" conflict with each other on the direction of the financial markets and actions to take. Some say to hold equities for long term as the markets would eventually recover, some advocate ruining to the hills before losing your shirts, some may say that why play when you have won the game, and some may say to acquire more equities on the cheap. My conclusion is that there are no experts for future events albeit their views do provide some insight and valuable information. At the end of the day, we have to think and decide what's best for our individual situation and goals.
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EastWest Gal
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
This has taught me that a good asset allocation is gold, and also having a cushion. And that all the numbers in the portfolio matter little until you sell assets. You all taught me that having a rainy day cash fund for a year or two allows one to sleep at night.
OldShooter
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yes. It's basically the "infinite number of monkeys" scenario. There are enough monkeys making random predictions that some of them will be correct at any given time. You can find the current genius monkeys by reading stories at marketwatch.com and other similar sites. The next time something significant happens these monkeys will be history and a new set will become genius monkeys.
My nomination for genius monkey is the one at the lower right. He doesn't even know what he's typing.
Spanky
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I do not think the poster is referring to a Gold ETF. Of course, I could be completely wrong.
Agree on the thankfulness for prior trips! We are optimistically/foolishly planning to hit the road in June for domestic travel though. Why 1.3 years in your estimation? (Antarctica this November, not going to happen)
ER Eddie
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That I'm really not subject to loneliness. I'm cut off from all friends, family, and social activities, and I'm doing just fine. Earlier, I heard Dr. Phil talk about how loneliness is a killer, and it struck me that I haven't felt a bit lonely.
blueskyk
Recycles dryer sheets
Discovered I’m actually a very good companion to myself...
BeachOrCity
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Reinforced that there are huge silent incentives for people of many professions (politicians, media types, financial pundits, etc)....to tell you only the facts that align with their interests not yours.
When in doubt do your own investigation.
When in doubt do your own investigation.
ER Eddie
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lol. Reminds me of the idea that if you had a million monkeys randomly typing away, eventually they'd produce Hamlet. Turns out, that's not true. They ran some monkey computer simulation, and they didn't even come close to a Days of Our Lives episode, much less Hamlet.
Dtail
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Partially, I'm preparing myself mentally for no travel this year.
I don't really expect much improvement in this covid-19 situation, just more of the same, except things will open up as lock down cannot continue forever. No vaccine for at least a year.
What this means is while we might be able to drive around/fly, in a few months, it will be at a time when there are a lot more infectious people out there. So it will be more risky over the next year than right now.
We are in a risky group, if we were 25, I'd probably be on the road now with a tent.
Normally in Summer we might drive up to Canada, but the border is closed and even between provinces and areas within Canada, they have set up road blocks to close off/stop tourist type folks. I'm doubtful they will open up for tourists come Summer, as they fear their hospitals will be over-run.
I'm not booking any travel outside of USA right now, as still working on getting refunds for our cancelled trip this Spring, as well as waiting for more clarity on what will be available (cruise lines? , flights? , countries allowing tourists ?)
Umm, if you are 67, you are already past your FRA. Did you mean to say until 70?
Well, in many ways this has been the worst downturn than anything in history and, the highest unemployment in history. The way I see it, if we as a group can financially survive this COVID -19 crash than we should be able to make it through most anything.
My biggest lesson is that greed, and how to balance your portfolio right to ensure you will get a modest gain and not always gleam for the highest.
-To note, I still plan to retire this year at age 60, no mater what!
P.S. Would love to see the after results as FireCalc factors this event in history
My biggest lesson is that greed, and how to balance your portfolio right to ensure you will get a modest gain and not always gleam for the highest.
-To note, I still plan to retire this year at age 60, no mater what!
P.S. Would love to see the after results as FireCalc factors this event in history
RetiredAt55.5
Full time employment: Posting here.
Doh, don't say that, you're going to jinx us!
Sharknado, Zombie Apocalypse, Alien Invasion, Meteor strike, ....
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Doh, don't say that, you're going to jinx us!
Sharknado, Zombie Apocalypse, Alien Invasion, Meteor strike, ....
Zombie sharks would be the worst.
