The Money Mustache Community

Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Investor Alley => Topic started by: alcon835 on March 15, 2020, 03:11:36 PM

Title: Let's be generous to the people who aren't like us.
Post by: alcon835 on March 15, 2020, 03:11:36 PM
I spent the last year taking a small chunk of my money and investing it directly into the market. I've lost some money and made some money and learned a TON.

So when the market dropped over the pat few weeks, I did my research, found some stocks on sale, and started putting money in. Things are still dropping but I expect a 5X-10X return on several of my bear investments over the next 12-18 months. I told a coworker about it and he put some money in based on my recommendations.

24-hours later I reached out to let him know about another stock I purchased after it dipped to amazingly low levels. He told me he'd already sold the stocks I'd recommended because they were dropping too much. I checked it out and they had dropped 10-15%. To say I was shocked is an understatement. But after taking a few minutes to catch my breath and think it over, I realized that the problem is mine, not his.

He doesn't have my history, knowledge, cash buffer, general savings, overall investment strategy, or (most importantly) my risk tolerance. All he knows is that I said if he put money into a few stocks he would make a sizable return. I didn't bother to ask him if he could handle the emotional roller coaster of a bear market. That was my failure. I didn't prepare him for what was about to happen and he's made some bad decisions and lost some money because of it.

So, as we see others freaking out about the market, I recommend we don't belittle them. Instead, encourage them to stick with their current strategy (whatever that may be - though this is a great time to encourage folks into VTSAX or something similar) and don't get mad at them for acting on their emotions. They're scared, many of them had little to no investments in 2008 and don't have the stomach for what's happening.

For the rest of us, it's an opportunity to make money, sure, but more than that it is a chance for us to use our positions of financial security to provide guidance, encouragement, and stability for those who are freaking out. Let's do the greater work and help our friends, family, and coworkers stay the course. And for those who make bad decisions, let's strive to find ways to help them make the best out of a bad situation; one that works with their risk tolerance.

We are uniquely qualified to help folks through this time. Let's do it!
Title: Re: Let's be generous to the people who aren't like us.
Post by: marty998 on March 16, 2020, 01:51:19 AM
Yep - through every bull market there are a lot of people who join in the fun for the first time. They've never experienced what it is like to lose chunks of capital in a day in a bear market.

Then are those of us who have lost the proverbial arm and a leg before and have the battle scars.

I find it hard to see how "keeping emotions in check" can be taught. You can continue to say "it'll be alright, don't sell" but until someone sees the light at the end of the tunnel I don't know how much words will help. They need to experience it for themselves.

Nod your head politely and tell them people will still search porn on Google, continue going brain dead watching netflix, waste time on Facebook and buy useless shit on Amazon, doing all of this on their Apple iPhone.

Life goes on, just as it always has.
Title: Re: Let's be generous to the people who aren't like us.
Post by: magnet18 on March 16, 2020, 04:19:22 AM
This is a good reminder

I'm excited, it's easy to get excited seeing things for such a steep sale, and forget others without this mindset are freaking out
Title: Re: Let's be generous to the people who aren't like us.
Post by: ctuser1 on March 16, 2020, 06:12:46 AM
We’ve had loads of practice in the recent past.

I was in college when 2001 and 9/11 raged. I didn’t have much money in the market, but was keenly aware of the problems people were facing in getting and keeping their jobs.

I was at work, right in the epicenter of the crisis during 2008. My outlook and behavior forever changed after that. I was a committed spendypants before, and started learning the ropes of frugality after.

Anyone who is <30 can be excused as not having enough battle scars. Everyone else who didn’t take the right lessons from 2008, never will.