Vincenzo Corleone
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2005
- Messages
- 617
Hi,
Back in 2008-2009 during the financial crisis, I made a mistake - I let my emotions get the best of me and I moved all the money in my retirement accounts that were invested in stock mutual funds into short-term bond funds, where the money has been sitting since. In the news, all I kept hearing was that Greece was going to collapse and would cause a domino effect. The next to go was Portugal, Spain, etc., etc., and this all would have a negative effect on the US. I rationalized by saying, yes, I may miss out on a run-up but the risks were too great. Of course, after I moved the money, I never heard about Greece or any other part of Europe since, and the world didn't end.
So I missed the big equity run in my retirement accounts. Now, of course, I'm finding it difficult to move the money back into stock funds thinking a correction is inevitable. And because of the fed's quantitative easing, I can't help but think that this run-up was artificial.
I realize that different people will have different opinions, but I would like to hear them. Would you move it all back into stock funds at once, thinking "Time IN the market is more important/effective than timING the market", or would you move in little bits over time (dollar cost averaging)?
Thanks. And thanks for not telling me what I already know - that I'm a dolt.
Back in 2008-2009 during the financial crisis, I made a mistake - I let my emotions get the best of me and I moved all the money in my retirement accounts that were invested in stock mutual funds into short-term bond funds, where the money has been sitting since. In the news, all I kept hearing was that Greece was going to collapse and would cause a domino effect. The next to go was Portugal, Spain, etc., etc., and this all would have a negative effect on the US. I rationalized by saying, yes, I may miss out on a run-up but the risks were too great. Of course, after I moved the money, I never heard about Greece or any other part of Europe since, and the world didn't end.
So I missed the big equity run in my retirement accounts. Now, of course, I'm finding it difficult to move the money back into stock funds thinking a correction is inevitable. And because of the fed's quantitative easing, I can't help but think that this run-up was artificial.
I realize that different people will have different opinions, but I would like to hear them. Would you move it all back into stock funds at once, thinking "Time IN the market is more important/effective than timING the market", or would you move in little bits over time (dollar cost averaging)?
Thanks. And thanks for not telling me what I already know - that I'm a dolt.
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