Who wanted to retire anyway

[RamblingMad]

I’m expecting it to keep dropping. I put my cash into 6 month CDs and 3 month t-bills. I’ll reevaluate when those mature.

 

[Searc]

DOW now down 20% over the last month. Does that now make this an official bear market?

Yes.

 

[Dan Murphy]

DOW now down 20% over the last month. Does that now make this an official bear market?

Yes it does.

 

[low-key]

I think it will all bounce back, but just the same when I retired early, I transferred all my money to safe accounts , of course they dont gain, but Im out of the game, I left with what I left with

 

[disneychrista]

of course they dont gain, but Im out of the game, I left with what I left with

I just got in the game and not only have I lost all my gains I have also lost about 6% of the investment. This is exactly why I never played before. I feel like just putting money in my money market and be done, instead of risking it.

 

[low-key]

I just got in the game and not only have I lost all my gains I have also lost about 6% of the investment. This is exactly why I never played before. I feel like just putting money in my money market and be done, instead of risking it.

let it ride, if you got years to go, it only goes up, this is a bump, investment people are already dyig to start spending again wait it out, only think about putting it in safe money if you are going to retire in the next year

 

[disneychrista]

let it ride, if you got years to go, it only goes up, this is a bump, investment people are already dyig to start spending again wait it out, only think about putting it in safe money if you are going to retire in the next year

I am. But for someone like me this is very hard. I just have to keep reminding myself that it isn't "big money." Heck I have a least another 20 years to go.

 

[rotlex]

If you are retired or close to retirement, very little of your portfolio should be in stocks! Adjust to more conservative investments as you get closer to actually needing the money, since you don't have time to wait for the full recovery of any large dips.

I struggle with this. I'm 52, so 10-15 for retirement yet. My advisor tells me I'm very conservative in my investments. He's a great guy\top Ameriprise advisor that we have been with for nearly 30 years).

It STILL freaks me out that in just a few weeks we are down just over 40K and we have a very small portion of our stuff in stocks. I realize you don't lose anything until you sell, but man, I'm kicking myself for thinking about going all cash\stable just a few months ago. I'd now permanently have those lost gains.

 

[tzolkin]

I am. But for someone like me this is very hard. I just have to keep reminding myself that it isn't "big money." Heck I have a least another 20 years to go.

Maybe try to look at it as buying while it's "on sale" and that it will go up later. That might help you to be less stressed.

 

[disneychrista]

Maybe try to look at it as buying while it's "on sale" and that it will go up later. That might help you to be less stressed.

Not really an option. As they say you have to have money to make money.

 

[tzolkin]

Not really an option. As they say you have to have money to make money.

What's "not really an option"? Didn't you just say that you recently started investing? I'm confused by your post.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I just got in the game and not only have I lost all my gains I have also lost about 6% of the investment. This is exactly why I never played before. I feel like just putting money in my money market and be done, instead of risking it.

No loss unless you sell.

 

[dish rag]

Not really an option. As they say you have to have money to make money.

Just go about your life and don’t worry about it.

 

[JimMIA]

DOW now down 20% over the last month. Does that now make this an official bear market?

The market is going to be all over the place -- don't look at it.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

The market is going to be all over the place -- don't look at it.

I agree, but even Warren Buffet is saying that this market is unprecedented. The conditions which have created this market have never existed before - certainly not in our lifetimes. We have no idea what is going to happen, short term or long term.

I have plenty of time until I retire and will continue to invest, but we can't assume that this will be fine. We just don't know. How far will it drop? How long will it take to recover? No one knows.

 

[pryncess527]

What's "not really an option"? Didn't you just say that you recently started investing? I'm confused by your post.

Well, those who aren’t liquid right now can’t take advantage. Someone who recently started nay have spent all their available cash right now.

DH & I always need to sell the company stock he gets, or our portfolio gets out of balance every 6 months. I’m grateful we sold when we did and have some cash to take advantage of the “sale”, but if we hadn’t sold a week ago we sure wouldn’t now.

 

[JaxDad]

It's not only retirement. For those with stock-based 529 plans for their children's college expenses, timing is everything! I opted for pre-paid tuition, because tuition going up (and up and up), seemed like a safe investment.

 

[disneychrista]

What's "not really an option"? Didn't you just say that you recently started investing? I'm confused by your post.

You have to have the funds to buy, even in a down market.

Yes I contribute to a 457 through my employer and am not going to stop doing even though it is very tempting to move it to the general guaranteed fund.

 

[JimMIA]

I agree, but even Warren Buffet is saying that this market is unprecedented. The conditions which have created this market have never existed before - certainly not in our lifetimes. We have no idea what is going to happen, short term or long term.

I have plenty of time until I retire and will continue to invest, but we can't assume that this will be fine. We just don't know. How far will it drop? How long will it take to recover? No one knows.

It IS unprecedented, and the economic effects of COVID-19 are just starting to be felt. Actually only the early supply chain effects are being felt. Consumers have not yet started to pull back, but government actions are now going to start forcing us to change our normal patterns.

For one thing, the travel ban will severely affect tourism, and even locally lots of our big events have been canceled or suspended in the last 2-3 days -- all NBA games, one of the largest music festivals in the world, the Miami Open tennis tournament (a 2-week event), a grand prix race, a huge annual youth fair, etc, etc. And we're still waiting to hear about baseball, proms, graduations, etc.

 

[JimMIA]

Well, those who aren’t liquid right now can’t take advantage. Someone who recently started nay have spent all their available cash right now.

DH & I always need to sell the company stock he gets, or our portfolio gets out of balance every 6 months. I’m grateful we sold when we did and have some cash to take advantage of the “sale”, but if we hadn’t sold a week ago we sure wouldn’t now.

Yeah, we're in kind of a similar situation. And it's not investment genius, just plain old dumb luck.

We are in the middle of closing out an old trust and opening a new one, so we had to liquidate all of our stocks. We got about halfway through before the market started the worst of the volatility, so we are fortunate to be about 60% cash at the moment.