Who Just Can't Look?

[audreyh1]

Never mind - some bad data got downloaded, it was more like this:

Friday 10/03/08 - retirement portfolio: -18.01% - ouch.
Friday 10/10/08 - retirement portfolio: -27.37% - WHA HAPPENED!!!!!

Audrey

 

[Midpack]

OK, I looked, and was pleasantly surprised. Down 13% since 9/30. Ugly but I can live with that, but we'll see what happens tomorrow/next week. Have people calmed down over the weekend, or will pent up panic rule? Stay tuned...

 

[CuppaJoe]

Received my 3rd qtr. statement from an old account that is done only by snail mail so just today figured 9/30/08 totals, not bad! I figure as of COB on Friday I may be down an amount equal to my cushion but won't figure it exactly until the end of the month. I'm figuring end of months for the first time because I REed at the end of August and want to keep a record now.

 

[Rambler]

I look most days...but I don't really need to. I have a good idea what the daily changes do to my port. I seem to be obsessed with re-calculating my standard of living in ER everytime there is a sell-off though. I guess I just want to make sure that DW and I can survive, and I think we can, even if equities go down another 10-15% from their highs...we won't like it, but we could do it if necessary. Flip side is that it seems I'm still important enough at megacorp that I won't likely be out of work anytime soon unless it is by my choice, so we have plenty of room to watch and wait.

R

 

[TromboneAl]

I was more amazed by the fact that I had enough invested to be down by $60k.

I think you get the Look at the Silver Lining prize.

 

[Zoocat]

Never mind - some bad data got downloaded, it was more like this:

Friday 10/03/08 - retirement portfolio: -18.01% - ouch.
Friday 10/10/08 - retirement portfolio: -27.37% - WHA HAPPENED!!!!!

Audrey

That looks very familiar. Not a good sight at all.

 

[calmloki]

...Calmloki, you might give your sis a head's up that Starbucks is going into the crapper, to put it delicately. $3 coffee just won't cut it in this economy I think.

It's a delicate situation. Older brother know-it-all is my designated role. I practice saying "lots of ways to live a life" & "who can say her style of living won't have been the better one". We're very different - she's a monthly payment vs. my total cost style, she buys lots of new cars and shops with vigor, i don't. I agree that Starbucks is heading down - we bought in close to it's high and sold at a loss a year or more ago. Think i'll mention selling some of our international fund at a loss and buying a replacement cheap and gaining a tax write-off! Maybe she'll get a good idea.
In defense of her hands off one stock approach, i suspect that the biggest gain (and the biggest potential loss) comes from putting all one's chips on one pony. Not my style, though we sure are awful real estate heavy....

 

[donheff]

Bad news: we are down enough that some people might consider retiring on that amount.
Good news: same

 

[mews]

I looked.

yeeeks!

It s&cks to see for real what I already knew ...

The bond fund, however, is doing its job. The stock funds, ick, ick, ick, to put it in technical terms.

ta,
mews

who may be w*rking for more than the 5 - 6 years she had hoped.
(I had wanted to bail by 60/62-ish, but hey, earlier than 70 is still 'early retirement', right)

 

[Gardnr]

It's a delicate situation. Older brother know-it-all is my designated role. I practice saying "lots of ways to live a life" & "who can say her style of living won't have been the better one". We're very different - she's a monthly payment vs. my total cost style, she buys lots of new cars and shops with vigor, i don't. I agree that Starbucks is heading down - we bought in close to it's high and sold at a loss a year or more ago. Think i'll mention selling some of our international fund at a loss and buying a replacement cheap and gaining a tax write-off! Maybe she'll get a good idea.
In defense of her hands off one stock approach, i suspect that the biggest gain (and the biggest potential loss) comes from putting all one's chips on one pony. Not my style, though we sure are awful real estate heavy....

OMG! She's going to have a rude awakening and learn a really hard lesson about diversification and LBYM. With the retrenchment that's coming from our debt-fueled consumerist economy to one in which people actually have to spend only what they make (or preferably less), companies like SBUX are going to take a huge hit IMO. (And I do drink SBUX brewed coffee at home, but they've made the bid BUX on those drinks they sell in stores, as we all know.)

I don't know what her total situation is like but I hope she wakes up soon to the new reality, and it's not going to help that's she's bet everything on one stock. She's got plenty of company I'm afraid.

 

[Walt34]

I still haven't looked. It's only a snapshot of one day, or even one moment, and the horizon for withdrawals from the deferred comp and DW's thrift savings accounts are still ten years away. I'll wait for the quarterly paper statement, get a little depressed like I did last time, and try to remember that it goes up more than it goes down.

 

[Meadbh]

The TSX is closed today for Thanksgiving, so I have nothing to look at except my US individual stocks. I hope the TSX will go up tomorrow, but since tomorrow is election day, anything could happen!

Heard that Israel's stock market was the only one that didn't tank last week. Why? Closed for the High Holy Days.

See, sometimes it pays to just go away and get a life!

 

[tmm99]

I used to like looking at it when it was growing fast. I looked the other day and it just about ruined my day. I don't need the money yet, so why look at it and get all bent out of shape? So I don't want to look now. I will have to soon to rebalance though....

tmm

 

[Dawg52]

I don't mind looking after a day like today.

 

[Donzo]

I have not been looking since the bottom fell out -until I decided to take one more "bold"(crazy?) shot at buying more equity on Friday. I decided to re-allocate my IRA to the 70% equities that I want for this part of my portfolio - it represents about 1/3 of my totals.