Woo-Hoo!!!

[Bikerdude]

The Freebird Foundation is still open for business.

Tax deductible I assume.

 

[Finance Dave]

this is sure better than 6500 in my book.

Amen to that.

Back in Nov/Dec 2008 (when I thought the market had hit a low ) I told my wife...

"Well, it's not good that it's down so much...but if it's going to be down, I'd like it to STAY down for a little while so we can buy cheap stocks )". We save about $60k/year (if you include both of our 401k plans at $15.5k each, employer contributions to our RSP of $11k, employer match on 401k of $4,500, $6k HSA savings that are invested in stock funds, and about $7k in after-tax savings plans), so the 6-8 month period in '09 that the market was down considerably has allowed us to get $30k in the market that has since turned into $45k...for a $15k profit. Overall we're still way down...but I'm trying to be an optimist.

Think of it this way...if you had two choices, which would net the more money?

1) Start working, deposit $x/year in a 401k which increased 4-fold in 30 years, then cash out.

2) Start working, deposit $x/year in a 401k which stayed flat for 29 years, increased 4-fold in the 30th year (yes, all in one year), then cash out.

#2 WINS !!!

 

[Midpack]

I have a now 61 year old co-worker who had "enough to retire" two years ago (just reached $1M he proudly told me back then). But he could not sell his primary residence (already [-]bought[/-] mortgaged his retirement home in AZ 4-5 years ago), so he did not retire. Now he's nowhere close to his "number" so he "can't retire" now (and the house still hasn't sold).

Nowadays he often laments to me and others, "I should have retired 2 years ago when I had the money..."

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

[W2R]

I have a now 61 year old co-worker who had "enough to retire" two years ago (just reached $1M he proudly told me back then). But he could not sell his primary residence (already [-]bought[/-] mortgaged his retirement home in AZ 4-5 years ago), so he did not retire. Now he's nowhere close to his "number" so he "can't retire" now (and the house still hasn't sold).

Nowadays he often laments to me and others, "I should have retired 2 years ago when I had the money..."

That is so sad!! This is one reason why I just can't see buying one's ER home early if it is going to endanger one's ER. I think that was the "fatal mistake" on his part.

Frank and I want to move north and buy cheaper homes, but if push comes to shove (and if we can't sell our present homes) we can always stay here until the housing market improves. It is just torture to study the real estate websites for our planned ER location, since the prices are so low and so many lovely homes are for sale by desperate sellers. But so far, we have resisted.

 

[NW-Bound]

... It is just torture to study the real estate websites for our planned ER location, since the prices are so low and so many lovely homes are for sale by desperate sellers. But so far, we have resisted.

I have the same situation with RVs. As narrated in recent posts, I am slowly converting myself, AND my wife too, into RV wannabes. We went out to take a look at used ones, and were surprised at what decent motor homes one can buy for less money than for a new car. But because my wife has to take turns with her siblings to watch after her 90-yr old father, we cannot leave for my dreamed-about extended trip next spring.

Why not buy one if the price is right, I asked myself. The problem is these RVs require storage space, and if I leave it up in my high-country place (without chopping down any tree, I already have room for a class A and perhaps 2 or 3 class Cs), I will have to worry about snow and water damage to it. Yes, these things require maintenance and I have learned that delamination is a dirty word feared by RV'ers.

It might just be well that my part-time work is starting back up, and takes away the time that I spend looking at RVs that I cannot buy. This work now has the potential to escalate and turn into a longer-term project. How can a LBYM'er like me refuse money? And the work promises to be fun too, as they are getting more and more receptive to my earlier proposal and I may get to do things my way. It will not be as fun as RV travel in the US, Canada, and then Europe, but by delaying the gratification I can travel more later. Decision, decision...

 

[toofrugalformycat]

It is just torture to study the real estate websites for our planned ER location, since the prices are so low and so many lovely homes are for sale by desperate sellers. But so far, we have resisted.

Same situation except already ERed. We'll see if I get up the gumption to move before prices go up again or stocks collapse. I'm so glad I didn't buy a couple of years ago. I wish I could DCA into a house.

 

[unclemick]

Just double checked - more like minus 4.8%. Do not know how I got my first 1% number. And yes I did use a calculator instead of a no. 2 pencil.

heh heh heh - .

Saint's did win? Right?

 

[NW-Bound]

Just double checked - more like minus 4.8%.

Unclemick, I believe you. I have been monitoring Wellesley and found that if one reinvested all dividends, he would be down only around 1% relative to the fund's high in Oct 07. Since you are such a "big" spender and still have some testosterone to buy during the dip, your performance is achievable.

I wish I could say the same about my portfolio, still down 13% from my previous high. However, that "loss" includes money I withdrew to live on and to pay my kids' college tuitions, which hurt like the Dickens.

I knew that I beat the S&P and Wellesley from 2003 until 2007, but looking ahead who knows? At some point, I may just park my money in Wellesley and drive an RV through Europe. But hormone is hard to resist, though it manifests in different persons in different ways. Heh heh heh ...

 

[ejman]

Unclemick, I believe you. I have been monitoring Wellesley and found that if one reinvested all dividends, he would be down only around 1% relative to the fund's high in Oct 07. Since you are such a "big" spender and still have some testosterone to buy during the deep, your performance is achievable.

I wish I could say the same about my portfolio, still down 13% from my previous high. However, that "loss" includes money I withdrew to live on and to pay my kids' college tuitions, which hurt like the Dickens.

I knew that I beat the S&P and Wellesley from 2003 until 2007, but looking ahead who knows? At some point, I may just park my money in Wellesley and drive an RV through Europe. But hormone is hard to resist, though it manifests in different persons in different ways. Heh heh heh ...

Yes, occasionally I wonder, why don't I just do a mix of Wellesley/Wellington and be done? I have another 14 funds as part of my AA (a little of this, a little of that) But what the hell do I really gain by that?

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

I've been DCA'ing into various mutual funds over the past few weeks, and put a chunk in on Friday after the pullback. I knew that 10,000 wasn't sustainable without some sort of pullback, but a significant correction (i.e. 10% or more) isn't likely to happen. We will be trading in a range until the markets digest earnings reports.

I'm within 1% of my pre-crash totals in my taxable account, and 7% in my retirement accounts (over which I have little control of the somewhat crappy funds my employer offers).

 

[hankster]

Same situation except already ERed. We'll see if I get up the gumption to move before prices go up again or stocks collapse. I'm so glad I didn't buy a couple of years ago. I wish I could DCA into a house.

You can! Buy some lumber this month, a couple of toilets and sinks next month, ......

 

[Nords]

I wish I could DCA into a house.

You can do that with mortgage payments, as long as you maintain at least the required minimum monthly DCA...

 

[unclemick]

You can do that with mortgage payments, as long as you maintain at least the required minimum monthly DCA...

Good one. I have never thought of expressing it that way!

heh heh heh - DCA until 2045, age 92 here. .

 

[NW-Bound]

Porky bellies my friend. Lets keep that between us.

OK! Pork bellies it is. But why keep it a secret? Let's scream on top of our lungs. "PORK BELLIES! BUY, BUY, BUY".

Well, I have no pork bellies yet, but today my beloved nerdy stocks (semiconductor and tech stocks) have recovered and help propel my portfolio to a new high for 2009. Material and mining stocks also move higher. So far, so good. BUY, BUY, BUY ...

I wish I could DCA into a house.

I think you meant that you wanted to avoid paying high prices for a house at the top of the market, and to be able to "accumulate" a house at varying prices as one does with stocks.

Well, if so, I don't think house prices will get much lower than where they are now. They probably won't get to nosebleed altitudes like in 2006 any time soon, but I would buy now if I needed a place to live.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

You can do that with mortgage payments, as long as you maintain at least the required minimum monthly DCA...

I hadn't thought of it that way before... interesting. But the front-end load, back-end load (realtor and bank fees yada yada) and "management fee" (interest and house maintenance) are killer. I'm a passive investor, a polite way of saying I'm a lazy bum. And so far it's worked for me.

I think you meant that you wanted to avoid paying high prices for a house at the top of the market, and to be able to "accumulate" a house at varying prices as one does with stocks.

Well, if so, I don't think house prices will get much lower than where they are now. They probably won't get to nosebleed altitudes like in 2006 any time soon, but I would buy now if I needed a place to live.

Yeah, I tend to agree about the first part - the 2nd part, I'm not sure, for the location I am interested in moving to. I may have to rent there awhile to find out.

In the meantime, back to the original thread, Woo-Hoo! The possibility is now back!!!

 

[Notmuchlonger]

OK! Pork bellies it is. But why keep it a secret? Let's scream on top of our lungs. "PORK BELLIES! BUY, BUY, BUY".

Well, I have no pork bellies yet, but today my beloved nerdy stocks (semiconductor and tech stocks) have recovered and help propel my portfolio to a new high for 2009. Material and mining stocks also move higher. So far, so good. BUY, BUY, BUY ...



I think you meant that you wanted to avoid paying high prices for a house at the top of the market, and to be able to "accumulate" a house at varying prices as one does with stocks.

Well, if so, I don't think house prices will get much lower than where they are now. They probably won't get to nosebleed altitudes like in 2006 any time soon, but I would buy now if I needed a place to live.

Look how much money Madoff made by keeping things hush hush and special. Come on work with me here. Make it select and special. Gets more people that way

Ignore the fact he went to jail. Just one fish out of many who got away.

 

[haha]

This thread is very likely the stun gun in the abattoir. We are stumbling down the chute.
The rally is on borrowed time.

A few months from now the all-cash people will be back telling us how clever they are.

However I refuse to sell any more appreciated stocks not only because of the taxes that would be due, (especially since much of the gain would be short term) but also for the hidden taxes like much higher Medicare premiums. I have my eye on that $85,000 AGI as adjusted by adding back non taxable interest.

I do have enough cash that I will have firepower if good stocks again seem cheap. And I don't have any fundamentally vulnerable stocks or bonds this time around, (unlike last time!!). Although as we all have learned all stocks are price vulnerable.

Ha

 

[NW-Bound]

This thread is very likely the stun gun in the abattoir. We are stumbling down the chute.
The rally is on borrowed time.

A few months from now the all-cash people will be back telling us how clever they are.

Ha

I am not so pessimistic. I have quite a bit of foreign equities and also US multi-nationals. I am going to take my chances with 71% equities now and want to ride it higher before [-]selling[/-] rebalancing.

Regarding the cash people, they should be doing OK too. It's a great country where one can invest however one likes. However, it's the bears shorting the market that I wonder about.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I am not so pessimistic. I have quite a bit of foreign equities and also US multi-nationals. I am going to take my chances with 71% equities now and want to ride it higher before selling.

Regarding the cash people, they should be doing OK too. It's a great country where one can invest however one likes. However, it's the bears shorting the market that I wonder about.

Yeah I think its easy to be a bear after the huge rebound. Who knows what will happen.

 

[NW-Bound]

No one has come forward to claim to short the market now, but some did a few months ago. Those are the people that I wonder if they have covered. They sure had the courage to follow their convictions. If proven wrong this time, they are not any more wrong than the bulls who clinged to their stocks, myself included, in 2008. I did sell some late last year, so that I had money to buy something back this year, thanks goodness. There were also people who rode the financials all the way down, remember?

Ah, the tug of war between bulls and bears. It is far easier to be like unclemick, but I like to do some CMT and switch side whenever I feel like it. No loyalty whatsoever.

 

[NW-Bound]

Nah, I have no need for pork bellies, nor anything from beavers.

Freeport-McMoran reported earnings, delivering an EPS of $2.07 vs. $1.34 as expected. Oh, how I love the smell of money in the morning.

It's too bad I have to log off now to go to w*rk, else would stay around here to BS some more.

 

[Moemg]

We've been jinxed again by the woo hoo posts !

 

[NW-Bound]

Yep, and Sir Ha was right.

Good thing I have not bought that class A RV. Changing my search criteria on RVTrader to popup tent trailer...

 

[FIREd]

Can we all agree to retire wheee and woo-hoo? Those guys suck....

 

[haha]

I have accepted that any form of market timing is looked upon negatively by most of us, but IMO there is still a place for rational thinking. In other words, I cannot change the returns offered to me but I can decide whether or not to take the bets offered.

The difficlutly is that our entire political system is working overtime to prop up asset values, or said another way, our political system is working overtime to hold down returns.

It appears unending, but it is also likely highly volatile.

PIMCO - Midnight Candles Gross November