"Everything's Crashing" or Stocks are on sale!

[enki]

There are two ways to look at this. I'm tempted to buy but my plan is still in the dumping debt phase. I'm on for the long haul and I'm going to stay the course, but I do wish I could be buying now instead of dealing with debt from my epic face-punch worthy younger years.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-11/everythings-crashing

[WerKater]

It seems, you are planning to do the right thing anyway. But I'll say it nonetheless: Don't try to time the market.

What were your original reasons for first paying of debt before investing? Are they still valid? If yes, stay the course!

Depending on how high your interest rates are (and what kind of debt it is), it might theretically be a good idea to do both: Use x% of your monthly savings to pay off debt and (100-x)% to invest. But you must have a plan that you will adhere to (Hence, x must be a fixed number, until your debt is paid off). Don't try to time the market.

[tj]

I feel like we are nowhere near a crash....

[use2betrix]

I feel like we are nowhere near a crash....

VTSAX is up .16% since 1 year ago today.

A crash? Maybe not. But I'd bet money the next 5 years won't be remotely close to the last 5 years in terms of gains.

[tj]

I feel like we are nowhere near a crash....

VTSAX is up .16% since 1 year ago today.

A crash? Maybe not. But I'd bet money the next 5 years won't be remotely close to the last 5 years in terms of gains.

What I meant to say is that the drop this year (this week week?) is not a crash. Like you said, we are basically flat from a year ago. A crash would be 30%-40% loss, if not more. I agree, it's unlikely to repeat, it would take another crash and recovery to repeat what has happened the last 5 years.

[JinBoston]

@Enki

Unsecured debt repayment will provide you with a much better return for now!   Keep plugging away!

The other's are right - This isn't really a crash.    Don't worry about missing anything.   The market will be here when you are done paying down debt.

[smella]

it's a dip.  I'd say a good time to increase your holdings if you were already planning to increase your holdings. Otherwise, the best thing to do doing a downturn is do nothing!

[Heckler]

VTSAX is up .16% since 1 year ago today.

A crash? Maybe not. But I'd bet money the next 5 years won't be remotely close to the last 5 years in terms of gains.

My VUN (VTI held in unhedged $CAD) is up 15% over the year!  Good thing for a balanced global portfolio, because my TSX index is well down over the year.

[enki]

Unsecured debt repayment will provide you with a much better return for now!   Keep plugging away!

It sure is. Peace of mind is worth quite a bit to me!

I know this week's performance is hardly anything to worry about, but I got a good laugh out of the chicken little 'sky is falling' posts that crop up anytime anything goes down. I'm new to investing but I know I have the stomach for a big downturn. Overall I'm still up from when I started caring about my retirement and my networth has moved up on every month since then too.

it's a dip.  I'd say a good time to increase your holdings if you were already planning to increase your holdings. Otherwise, the best thing to do doing a downturn is do nothing!

Its just a minor lament that I am not able to increase my holdings because my plan doesn't have me increasing them today. Otherwise I would be shoveling money in.

[soccerluvof4]

yea, this is nothing really even after 300 pt drop today. We were at 15,300 on the Dow this year and sat little longer at 16,500. Dow at 17,200 is nothing more than a good time to add if your doing your weekly buys.