Let me preface this with the fact that this is only my “play money” that I’m talking about here. My 401k and IRA will remain more or less entirely within various Vanguard index funds.
I have been doing some “research” on the markets and past swings up and down, the timing of them, etc. Obviously I have come to the following, rock solid conclusion: I have no clue. Anyways, this money is tied up in things from VTI and BRK to healthcare to manufacturing, and everything in between. I’m thinking that it would be a good idea to slowly be selling these off—maybe 10% of it a month, starting with my healthcare stocks and slowly moving down the line to the others, and placing the proceeds in bond funds—there the money would sit until I either use it as part of a down payment, or until the next crash when I pump it back into stocks.
Does the hive think that is a good idea? Or is that trying to get too cute with the market? There is nothing that the money is earmarked for, it is all at once just my trying to be better than the index, my emergency-emergency savings (>6 months of it hitting the fan), and a part of a future down payment. If I were to lose all of it, the result would basically be I delay purchasing a house for another 1-3 years (and that is currently 2-9 years away from now).