Please tell me you too are getting clobbered

[Wade Lippman]

I am inclined to just ride it out instead of panicking and selling at the bottom. Even as I get closer to retirement age, I don't see much reason to have more than around 25% in bonds. Even after I retire, I expect that a large portion of the money will be invested for 10 to 20 years before I take it out. I want that portion to grow faster than inflation and stocks should be the best way to do this.

Steve

Absolutely the right approach. The market is down maybe 10% from its peak, but it is still triple what it was in 2009.
It is like the sea; the tide comes in and goes out, only a fool fights it. Unless of course you are psychic.

[Dennis Peacock]

What I need is money.....so I can play in the market.

Oh well, maybe next time I'll be born rich instead of good looking.

[Brian Henderson]

Absolutely the right approach. The market is down maybe 10% from its peak, but it is still triple what it was in 2009.
It is like the sea; the tide comes in and goes out, only a fool fights it. Unless of course you are psychic.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who think they can play the market for quick profits when the stock market is a long-term waiting game. It doesn't matter if the market goes up or down today, it matters what the historical averages are over 20-30 years. There's this weird belief that everyone should be in the market, that day trading is how people make money. That's ludicrous. If people are particularly risk averse, they have no business at all being in the market, their money should be in a safe, protected investment. Of course, safe, protected investments are also low return, but at least your money is safe. The stock market is for people willing to take a risk for potentially larger returns on investment. And it doesn't take a psychic to see things going the wrong way, it only takes being intelligent and paying attention. I lost nothing in the 2008 crash. I saw it coming and moved my money elsewhere. Lots of people saw it coming. I also didn't get screwed in the dot.com bubble. The market isn't rocket science, there's a certain degree of luck, but a lot of it is just paying attention and not expecting short term gains over long term investments.

[Pat Barry]

Stocks and bonds, and in fact all investments, are run by and for the big guys. We are on the tail of the dog. I'm just along for the ride, like the flea at the tail of that dog. We can only hope the dog is headed in a direction that is good for us.

[Wade Lippman]

And it doesn't take a psychic to see things going the wrong way, it only takes being intelligent and paying attention. I lost nothing in the 2008 crash. I saw it coming and moved my money elsewhere.

You got lucky. It could just easily gone up another 50%.
I sold all my bonds and bought stocks on the very day the market hit bottom in 2009. I got lucky. Made a lot of money, but it was just a matter of getting lucky; it could have continued going down and I would have looked like a fool.

[Michael Weber]

A rising tide lifts all boats. There is a reason I am mostly out of the stock market and think that a "buy and hold" stratagy as preached by mutual fund companies may not be realistic in the future. I'm a famous idiot and more often wrong than right, especially about macro trends, so not stating my thinking least I embarrass myself.

[Steve Peterson]

There's this weird belief that everyone should be in the market, that day trading is how people make money.

Maybe some people can make money by day trading. I am really good with numbers, but I would be very unsatisfied because I would feel like I am not adding any value to society. Every dollar earned by day trading comes at the expense of someone else losing money. With the rising tide theory, everybody makes money, but then everybody's money is worth slightly less. At the end of the day, the world is not any better after a day trader makes his money.

Steve

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Well....we may be the tail on the dog but.....the most recent survey I read dated 4/15/2015 stated that 55% of American households are invested in the stock market. It's a big tail!

I began investing in a 401K in the late '70s. After my forced retirement in 2011 due to deafness, I began making some sizeable withdrawals to cover some very expensive dental work and that 45 year delayed grand honeymoon my wife of 47 years and I enjoyed 2 years ago. I have gotten back a good portion of what I invested over the years and still have a sizeable amount producing interest.

Of course there are those who would have said I was over insured when I paid for disability insurance through my employer 24 years. Then I awoke deaf in 2010, was forced to retire and collected on that disability insurance until I turned 65. That $8 a month premium turned out to be a fantastic investment!

The professional investment people with whom I have discussed investing have all said pretty much the same thing. Find a method of investing with which you are comfortable and stick with it.

Having cash under mattress isn't completely safe and it doesn't keep up with inflation.

Nothing is black and white. Do what is right for you.

If you aren't comfortable investing! That's okay too!

Death is the only thing guaranteed in this world.

[Bill McNiel]

Prashun,
I too have been "clobbered" over the last year to the tune of about a 4.5% loss in my rollover account. This money was supposedly invested conservatively but I would be way ahead had I just put it in a Money Market Fund. I have never believed in the Stock Market, I see it as gambling with sharks giving the advice. Fortunately for my wife and kids the majority of "my" money is in real estate. The reality now is that my woodworking commission income is used to pay bills rather than fund trips and toys.

I have always wished that Birth Certificates came with expiration dates, I don't want to die leaving a million dollar estate not do I want to wake up at 75 relying on Social Security and the dole.

[Brian Elfert]

I haven't bothered to look at my 401K balance as I can't do anything about it. The market is down about 10% and I am not certainly not in a panic about it. The market is still up something like 100% since 2009.

It is funny how high oil prices push the market down and how low oil prices also push the market down. A lot of oil producers borrowed a lot of money thinking that $80 oil was here to stay.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I put my bucks into savings bonds. Still getting 4-6% on them.

Details man - - details - - -please don't keep me in suspense!

Where are these bonds & can anyone get in on that or are they something you already had?

I'm drawing 4.5% on an ancient life insurance policy I had that went into effect prior to some IRS change that was made a few years back.
My agent tried in vain to contact me to let me know that as long as the new IRS rules hadn't gone into effect, I could dump as much into that as I wanted.
After the rules changed, things were different.
I ignored all the calls and messages from the agent - - like a fool, but, you know how that goes. An insurance agent hounding you seldom wants to deliver good news....


Anywho - back to the bonds....

I haven't bothered to look at my 401K balance as I can't do anything about it.

That's sort of risky.
You can keep an eye on things and if it looks like a real down period is headed your way, you may be able to shift all your money into "holding".

Stocks and bonds both went into free fall back in the early part of 2011.
I had 100% of my 401 in bonds - playing it "safe".
The bonds started to hemorrhage, so I quickly shifted 100% of my 401 into a money fund.
For 6 months I made nothing - - but - - for 6 months I also lost nothing.

Had I not shifted that money out of the bond fund, I would have lost a bundle.

[Brian Elfert]

That's sort of risky.
You can keep an eye on things and if it looks like a real down period is headed your way, you may be able to shift all your money into "holding".

If I could predict the stock market I would be a billionaire overnight. My 401K is invested in a target date fund. If the market tanks again like 2009 it is also likely that it will go up in the next 20+ years. How many people sold in 2009 and lost big as the market went back up another 100%?

[George Bokros]

Death is the only thing guaranteed in this world.

Not quite, taxes are guaranteed also!!

[Wade Lippman]

Not quite, taxes are guaranteed also!!

Actually they aren't. If you don't sell stocks with unrealized gains, they go through your estate untaxed. No one ever has to pay taxes on the gains. (well, assuming your estate is under $11M)

I got screwed horribly by a financial manager who every year would sell about half my stock and buy others. He only preformed about as well as the market (which, considering he got 1% for his efforts, is better than most) but left me with a big tax bill in years the market went up. So So So happy I got rid of him. Now I don't sell anything up unless I also sell something down to eliminate the taxes. I am a firm believer in the efficient market hypothesis, so one is as good as another.

[George Bokros]

Actually they aren't. If you don't sell stocks with unrealized gains, they go through your estate untaxed. No one ever has to pay taxes on the gains. (well, assuming your estate is under $11M)

True, if it passes in your estate however if you need the money at some time in retirement you do have to pay the tax man. The only way to have no tax bill is if all of your gain is in a ROTH IRA