Let's play an optimistic little game. A recent thread started by Ziggy29 dictated that the market bottom is now behind us, and it's just up, up, up from here. Fantastic!
So, how far do you have to go with respect to the S&P 500 in order to break even?
Break-even shall be defined as the point at which your total investment portfolio equals its basis. That is, when what you have now equals what you put in (you may wish to include any carried-forward capital losses from tax-loss harvesting). If you have been invested for a good while and wish to include the effects of inflation, please do.
In order for the results to be meaningful across the board and in the future, we need a standard of comparison in absolute terms, so reference your basis to the S&P 500, e.g., "I was even when the S&P 500 was at 1000." If so, you would check 1000.
If you only know the percentage gain you need to break even, multiply by the current S&P-500. So if you need a 50% gain (1.5 times where you are now), and the S&P is at 800, put down 800*1.5=1200.
Of course, the words beside the numbers are merely for entertainment.
Feel free to report back when you do break even!
Best of luck!
So, how far do you have to go with respect to the S&P 500 in order to break even?
Break-even shall be defined as the point at which your total investment portfolio equals its basis. That is, when what you have now equals what you put in (you may wish to include any carried-forward capital losses from tax-loss harvesting). If you have been invested for a good while and wish to include the effects of inflation, please do.
In order for the results to be meaningful across the board and in the future, we need a standard of comparison in absolute terms, so reference your basis to the S&P 500, e.g., "I was even when the S&P 500 was at 1000." If so, you would check 1000.
If you only know the percentage gain you need to break even, multiply by the current S&P-500. So if you need a 50% gain (1.5 times where you are now), and the S&P is at 800, put down 800*1.5=1200.
Of course, the words beside the numbers are merely for entertainment.
Feel free to report back when you do break even!
Best of luck!