Your behavior during latest market downturn ?

[48Fire]

I was very heavy in cash, waiting for a correction or crash. So I bought about 15% of my portfolio.

[clifp]

I sold last month anticipating a correction. I was surprised it happened so quickly. I used options to buy back at about S&P 1700, but I am still sitting on about 3x my normal cash level anticipate further pullbacks.

[redduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound What I did was not a choice offered in the poll. I traded some losers for other stocks. This allowed me to book some losses for tax purposes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakedog I added to a couple of dividend stocks during the downturn and plan to add more if the drop continues.

I did what NW-Bound and Lakedog did.

[papadad111]

I

1. moved 100 percent of a deferred comp package to cash in late September that was up 8 pct on the year. It is tax deferred so no tax impact as I move it. I started getting back in with two buys across the last week. The value of the account is currently within 1 percent of September peak balance. I am 85 percent back in equities with 15 percent to go.

2. I took half of my current 15 percent cash position in taxable accounts - now down to 7 percent - making buys in 3x leverages oil, regular sp500 and a total market ETFs. That taxable account is down approx 8 percent from recent highs. I considered selling in sept as I did in the deferred comp account but the tax implication would have been too large a tax bill for what I hope is a typical 10 percent correction.

Overall AA is 92% equities and 8%cash. It is high by my historic standards of 70/30 but there is really no better place to park cash at this point due than equities to the near zero interest rates. 10 year below 2 percent. Crazy low ... Cash still represents 3 years of lIving expense which gets me about through a crisis if one unfolds.

[ls99]

One of these days I'll have to look. But by the time I get around to it it may be Whhheeee.

[robertf57]

I did nothing except continue to contribute to 401a, 457, and defined benefit plan ( I think... not certain if a contribution occurred during the talking head frenzy or not!)

[Al in Ohio]

Its not really a downturn as much as a return of volatility that you previously forgot about. Its back.


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[NW-Bound]

The only thing I hate about these volatility periods is when I think about all that potential gain that I could have had, if I knew to buy and sell just right.

[Cat-tirement]

I did almost nothing. Since I had been putting off 2014 Roth contributions, I made those this week for both DW and myself, putting them into stock funds that were down to almost the level they were at early this year. Since I RE'd last month, this was my last Roth contribution as a regular earner. However, I expect to have a spousal contribution next year, as DW will still be working for a bit longer.

[stephenson]

Had some cash I had not moved from Fidelity to Vanguard ...was not prepared, so got some advice here ...thought about it awhile and since I didn't have any health care focus funds, bought Fidelity health care ETF FHLC.


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[Live Free]

As someone who sold at the very bottom in 2008 and didn't get back into the market until 2013 -- well, let's just say that I learned a very valuable lesson in a very, very, very hard way . I have picked an AA and I'm sticking to it through rebalancing to that AA when it gets 5% out of whack -- NO MATTER WHAT.

[ejman]

Nothing. Well within my rebalance bands. Back to nap time.

[Lucantes]

Rebalanced back to my standard AA in my 401K (86% Stock, 14% Bond), so I both bought and sold.

[ChainsBeGone]

I went to the gym, walked the dog, watched football, read a book, and drank a few beers.

[RobLJ]

Bought a little bit of SDRL and AWLCF in the collapse of the drillers, but the amount/portfolio is so small as to be insignificant.
Might put a bit of cash/bonds in the 401/403b to work if the correction/collapse/etc continues another 5% since that would come close to triggering stock/bond/cash allocation bands.

[2035]

I continued as before...plowing 20%+ of my income in MFs even though I had lost my job as a result of the recession and I was working for a temp agency with lousy fund options in their Mass Mutual 401k. Lesson learned, it's better to put money towards a saving account or non-retirement accounts than a crappy 401k that doesn't even match.


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[Lancelot]

I sold some Vanguard Total Stock Market and bought a shale oil stock that was beaten down significantly. I also took a small position in Ford.

[donheff]

I did nothing although I was tempted to buy a few percent of equities. But I did have an interesting experience tied to the recent volatility. Last Wednesday I opened the door to my mailman and he popped out the question, "do you know anything about investing." I think he has seen both financial mail and Federal Government related mail and guessed I might know something about the Federal TSP. Kind of an odd way to seek financial advice (which I told him) but what the heck. Well, this turned into a 20 minute discussion of his TSP account. He was about a 60/40 stock to bonds investor and was panicking and thinking of bailing to the G fund (principle guaranteed Government bond fund). He is 43 and hopes to retire in 14-15 years. I counseled the standard mantra around here about leaving things alone. I pointed out that 60/40 is not aggressive for someone his age with a 15 year work horizon and a COLAd pension. He seemed reassured. Then yesterday I saw him again and he told me that he panicked on Thursday and bailed entirely to the G Fund - both current holdings and prospective contributions. Now he was feeling like he made a big mistake. I assured him that he did. We kicked things around again for another 20 minutes, going over the fact that volatile changes are not real gains and losses unless you sell into them, covering the fact that many investors jump in and out of the market, losing ground with each move, blah, blah. He said he was going to reverse his actions and make a hard nosed commitment to avoid market timing. I told him that would be good if, and only if, he can really avoid jumping in and out like he is doing this week. Otherwise he would be better off staying entirely in the G Fund. This is a nice guy, not at all dumb. I can see why the average investor doesn't stay close to the market as a whole. You can lead a horse to water...

[pb4uski]

I checked my AA and it is reasonably close to target so I did nothing. I'm finding that with my AA it takes a pretty significant market move to change things enough so I feel compelled to rebalance. All my asset classes are within 1% of target so there is nothing to be done.

[Zathras]

If by "latest" you mean the last couple of week's little burp, nothing.
Normally I would buy a little, however we are starting our project to build our next house.

Most likely we will be putting all of our cash towards that through this. If the downturn is more significant and lasts into next year we may add a bit.