Support thread for those of us who plan to keep throwing money

[ctuser1]

I kept throwing money at the market through 2008 and it has served me well so far.

I plan to do so again through the current coronavirus pandemic, and the economic recession that is likely to last longer than the pandemic itself. At least that is the plan, assuming both me and my wife keeps our jobs. We are both working from home. My job looks secure at least through 2020 (one of my projects is ramping up way more than initially sized for and is constrained only by our lack of ability to get the system geared up quickly enough to tackle more load). DW's job is less secure and there are rumors of a coming layoff sometime soon. But that is not exactly on topic for this thread. If our cash flow patterns change, we will change our investing patterns.

I am desperately scraping every dollar I can find from everywhere - so that I can throw it at the market. I was already started taking a hard look at our expenses (which were just shy of $90k for calendar year 2018) in 2019. I am finding that we are spending even less now that we don't go out that much.

I threw in $4000 that I was building up as my driveway+roof fund in March. Another $500 was "found" from the 3/15 paycheck and thrown in. If my calculations hold up, I may be able to throw in as much as $1500 from the 4/15 paycheck.

Every month I get two paychecks, on 15th and the end of month. I am hoping to find $1000 extra from every paycheck on the 15th of every month. In fact, I am hopeful I can ramp that up even higher. This month I splurged almost $1700 on toys. That's a $600 treadmill (old one died), $170 exercise bike (mostly for the kids), $400 lawn-mower, and just placed a $500 order at HD for a hedge trimmer+ blower + leaf vac. I don't expect these capital expenditures to recur every month. So there is no reason I can't ramp it up even further up from the $1000/month point.

Any stories of what you are doing to scrape up more money to throw?

Or perhaps any "constructive" suggestions why you think this is stupid. (Note: I am already a veteran of this tactics. I did this through 2008).

[MustacheAndaHalf]

The job situation can be on topic, if it suggests a larger emergency fund is needed.  If layoffs do arrive at DW company, does your emergency fund need to be larger?

[ctuser1]

The job situation can be on topic, if it suggests a larger emergency fund is needed.  If layoffs do arrive at DW company, does your emergency fund need to be larger?

Not for that specific reason, in my opinion.

DW started working in 2015. Her paycheck was never at play for any spending. It's always been going for savings (401k + 529 + Roth, and then the leftover at a taxable brokerage).

Our emergency fund *was* $40k before last month. That is our regular 6-months expenses. For *many* reasons (I am basically reassessing our risk tolerance and think it is different now than it was when we were much younger), I plan to gradually build that up to $100k. The taxable brokerage portion of DW's paycheck will go towards that. Instead of being invested in stock ETFs it will just sit in a money market fund.

[GoCubsGo]

I'm considering doing something similar.  We have a large cash position that I was holding to buy real estate potentially.  We also have and emergency fund of $60k that has never been needed in 20 years (very stable job).   My only hesitation is that we are planning on retiring in 7-10 years.  That money will definitely need to be used early in retirement.   I've always seen that as "safe" money and have let it sit in CD's (and I have flipped a couple houses with that money). 

I'm pretty aggressive in my 401ks/IRA's (75/25). This pot of money hasn't been invested all these years so I feel like I'd be wasting a great opportunity to buy this market.  For some reason I'm having a tough time pulling the trigger.

[Buffaloski Boris]

I'm considering doing something similar.  We have a large cash position that I was holding to buy real estate potentially.  We also have and emergency fund of $60k that has never been needed in 20 years (very stable job).   My only hesitation is that we are planning on retiring in 7-10 years.  That money will definitely need to be used early in retirement.   I've always seen that as "safe" money and have let it sit in CD's (and I have flipped a couple houses with that money). 

I'm pretty aggressive in my 401ks/IRA's (75/25). This pot of money hasn't been invested all these years so I feel like I'd be wasting a great opportunity to buy this market.  For some reason I'm having a tough time pulling the trigger.

Like many things in life, timing is everything. 

This is the same problem I'm having.  I can't wrap my head around an SP500 trailing PE of 20.53 (as of when I type this).  What that's really saying is that SP500 stocks merit a price that is 20.53 times earnings BEFORE COVID. To me that's not a little crazy. That's full out, get out the straightjacket, bat-s*** bonkers.

There are I think 3 things causing this:
1. Central bank interventions
2. Fed interventions
3. To infinity and beyond! Fed interventions. 

If our "No Part of The 1% Left Behind" policy means backstopping the debt of essentially every publicly traded company via the Fed, then there really is no extreme downside (i.e. bankruptcy risk) to those companies.

So I guess the question we really should be asking is why isn't the Dow at 40,000 yet?   
 

[Buffaloski Boris]

For what it's worth, I don't think there is much downside risk to a "keep throwing money at the market" strategy.  Here is a great quote from an unlikely source (Marketwatch) that pretty well summarizes Fed interventions :

“When you remove near term bankruptcy risk from every publicly held company regardless of credit rating or near-term financial condition, asset prices should rise,” DataTrek’s Nicholas Colas wrote in a note published on Friday. “Markets know that no matter how bad cash flow might be there is a Fed loan backstop waiting in the wings if needed.”

[Retire-Canada]

Pre-COVID-19 when I had spare cash after paying my bills I saved and invested it. Post-COVID-19 the only difference is I am building up a 6 month cash EF and then if I have any extra money I'll save and invest it. COVID-19 is saving me money in most areas of my life [except groceries]. My main income is down a bit, but I am trying to supplement with PT work as it becomes available. Intellectually I know that I can't generate enough extra cash this year to really impact my ~$1M portfolio, but it does feel good to be doing something to push the needle in the right direction...however little.

FWIW - I'm a buy and holder so I didn't do anything to change my portfolio. I am fully invested less the cash EF I am building in the short term.

[ctuser1]

I'm considering doing something similar.  We have a large cash position that I was holding to buy real estate potentially.  We also have and emergency fund of $60k that has never been needed in 20 years (very stable job).   My only hesitation is that we are planning on retiring in 7-10 years.  That money will definitely need to be used early in retirement.   I've always seen that as "safe" money and have let it sit in CD's (and I have flipped a couple houses with that money). 

I'm pretty aggressive in my 401ks/IRA's (75/25). This pot of money hasn't been invested all these years so I feel like I'd be wasting a great opportunity to buy this market.  For some reason I'm having a tough time pulling the trigger.

Like many things in life, timing is everything. 

This is the same problem I'm having.  I can't wrap my head around an SP500 trailing PE of 20.53 (as of when I type this).  What that's really saying is that SP500 stocks merit a price that is 20.53 times earnings BEFORE COVID. To me that's not a little crazy. That's full out, get out the straightjacket, bat-s*** bonkers.

There are I think 3 things causing this:
1. Central bank interventions
2. Fed interventions
3. To infinity and beyond! Fed interventions. 

If our "No Part of The 1% Left Behind" policy means backstopping the debt of essentially every publicly traded company via the Fed, then there really is no extreme downside (i.e. bankruptcy risk) to those companies.

So I guess the question we really should be asking is why isn't the Dow at 40,000 yet?

At the risk of going a tiny bit off topic:
Trailing P/E of 20 => flip it around => earning/earned 5% p.y. of the price paid to acquire the asset.
Compare that with the price for cash-flow of fixed income assets. Does risk premium alone justify this spread? Or is it that the broad index fund has a return beyond the rational risk premium over and above the fixed income assets?

Viewed from this angle, stocks are a good value *even* @20 PE, despite the expected dip for a few quarters, assuming you minimize your risk by buying a broader index and not try to predict which company was swimming naked in the market.

It's possible that the entire market will tank. But then, nothing you can do financially will help you. So I strongly believe that the most rational course of action is to stop worrying and do what I am doing.

(It's mind-boggling how brazen the 1% can be at grabbing public money. So I am intentionally staying off my pet-rant on the socialism at display for the rich to stop dragging this thread further down the drain.) 

[Buffaloski Boris]

At the risk of going a tiny bit off topic:
Trailing P/E of 20 => flip it around => earning/earned 5% p.y. of the price paid to acquire the asset.
Compare that with the price for cash-flow of fixed income assets. Does risk premium alone justify this spread? Or is it that the broad index fund has a return beyond the rational risk premium over and above the fixed income assets?

Viewed from this angle, stocks are a good value *even* @20 PE, despite the expected dip for a few quarters, assuming you minimize your risk by buying a broader index and not try to predict which company was swimming naked in the market.

You make a very good point. Just keep in mind those are trailing earnings pre COVID which is likely to shake things up a tad.

I'll change the subject just slightly here myself and add: the case against cash isn't quite so straightforward, either.  The classic argument against cash is that you're getting little return which is being eaten up by inflation over time. Given the current economic situation, what inflation would that be?

(It's mind-boggling how brazen the 1% can be at grabbing public money. So I am intentionally staying off my pet-rant on the socialism at display for the rich to stop dragging this thread further down the drain.)

Oh come on!  The very best MMM topics are the ones that go completely off the rails, dig up several trees and end up getting locked down by the mods.  Don't hold back, tell us what you really think.  LOL! 

[GoCubsGo]

I guess my main disconnect is that the market almost seems to be moving independent of the the actual COVID news.  It's getting bought up when I can't see ACTUAL fundamentals returning to somewhat normal for at least 18 months. 

JP Morgan just this morning said they see full asset price recovery in early 2021.  I think Piper Jaffray called for new S&P highs by the end  of the year!  I know these are just opinions, but they are opinions of firms with thousands of analysts and extensive modeling capabilities.

I guess I don't see mainstreet America coming back anywhere near that quick.   I'm not risk adverse by any means, but something makes me feel like this is all just a synthetic rally with no real reasons behind it.  The bigger problem is that I *could* throw $200K+ plus of dry powder at this and potentially reap a very nice reward but my "gut" is giving me a stop sign.

[ctuser1]

I guess my main disconnect is that the market almost seems to be moving independent of the the actual COVID news.  It's getting bought up when I can't see ACTUAL fundamentals returning to somewhat normal for at least 18 months. 

JP Morgan just this morning said they see full asset price recovery in early 2021.  I think Piper Jaffray called for new S&P highs by the end  of the year!  I know these are just opinions, but they are opinions of firms with thousands of analysts and extensive modeling capabilities.

I guess I don't see mainstreet America coming back anywhere near that quick.   I'm not risk adverse by any means, but something makes me feel like this is all just a synthetic rally with no real reasons behind it.  The bigger problem is that I *could* throw $200K+ plus of dry powder at this and potentially reap a very nice reward but my "gut" is giving me a stop sign.

My take - I don't think you should throw your $200k+ dry powder at the markets.

You said: "That money will definitely need to be used early in retirement.   I've always seen that as "safe" money and have let it sit in CD's (and I have flipped a couple houses with that money)".

This indicates to me that you should not invest that money in risky assets.

Right now, if that money is in a brokerage it is probably sweeped into a money market. This is not bad (please make sure it is in a good money market if this is not true).

You could further consider something like TIPS and such. Even bonds are "risky asset" (think bankruptcy) - so I'd be very careful and would likely avoid them in your position.

Beyond this position, however, I think every little scrap of extra money you can come up from your paychecks should probably be thrown into the risky-assets - with whatever asset allocation you desire. Now that we are all staying home - there should be some of that we should be able to find.

I, personally, stay in a much more aggressive investing posture. That's because I like my job (of being a code-slinging-cowboy solving cool business problems), and don't plan to RE even if I FI sometime soon. But, if I was looking to actually retire in 7-10 years - I guess my thinking would be different.

Whatever your decision is, however, please please please make sure you don't change that based on market conditions. Whether you take an aggressive stance or a conservative one - you should stay the course with that stance through all market conditions. Anything else and you are trying to market time - which almost never works over an investor's investing time-horizon.

[AM43]

Definitely count me in one of those who plan to keep throwing money at the market.
I've been thru dot com crash, 2008 melt down and everything in between and i never stopped throwing everything I can in the market. I contribute weekly, monthly and every time I get my hands on some cash.
I have my personal stash from side gigs that I never ever use to invest and use it for buying tools, toys, vacations etc and I took out good chunk and invested it. On top of that in the month of March we happened to finish paying off one of our investment properties and freed up approx $1500, so I am throwing that in as well.
By the way I am 100 % in stocks and been that way since early 2000 s and not changing my AA in foreseeable future.

[Alternatepriorities]

I'll join the thread in case things take another wild swing.

We've changed little in terms of asset allocation but I am trying to be more prompt about investing surplus. DW's job is more secure than most and with no travel expenses for the immediate future our expenses are less than her income so I've capped our EF at 2 months cash. My income varies but has been good the last two months and we've been throwing it into index funds and some into Brk (the slight AA change). 

[Buffaloski Boris]

I guess my main disconnect is that the market almost seems to be moving independent of the the actual COVID news.  It's getting bought up when I can't see ACTUAL fundamentals returning to somewhat normal for at least 18 months. 

JP Morgan just this morning said they see full asset price recovery in early 2021.  I think Piper Jaffray called for new S&P highs by the end  of the year!  I know these are just opinions, but they are opinions of firms with thousands of analysts and extensive modeling capabilities.

I guess I don't see mainstreet America coming back anywhere near that quick.   I'm not risk adverse by any means, but something makes me feel like this is all just a synthetic rally with no real reasons behind it.  The bigger problem is that I *could* throw $200K+ plus of dry powder at this and potentially reap a very nice reward but my "gut" is giving me a stop sign.

That’s because it is a synthetic rally. Taken at face value, an economy going into a hard recession/depression isn’t going to fuel a bull market. However, having the Fed throw several trillion at it and effectively backstopping all publicly traded companies will change the calculations.

[ctuser1]

<rant>
I don't like this rally!

It torpedoes my hope of buying more stocks on the cheap.

As of today, my net-worth (without considering 529, emergency fund, home equity) is "only" down $91k from the peak. I'd much rather have that down for a few months while I and DW get to keep our jobs so that we can come out much further ahead at the other end.
</rant off>

[Padonak]

I may sell some bonds and buy some stocks, waiting for another dip to do so.

[OurTown]

Buying on down days.  Contributing to emergency fund on up days.

[Jack0Life]

Buying on down days.  Contributing to emergency fund on up days.

Exactly what I'm doing.
I keep throwing money on down days right before the market closes @4pm.

[ctuser1]

Buying on down days.  Contributing to emergency fund on up days.

Exactly what I'm doing.
I keep throwing money on down days right before the market closes @4pm.

Interesting!!

I generally sit down after dinner to do all money shuffling/rebalancing etc.
This meant I’d dump money into some ETF without knowing till next day what price it will clear.

You guys seem to do something better :-).

Can you please share more details? Which brokerage(s), etf(s)? Practically speaking, when do I need to hit the button for that order to clear on that day’s closing price?

[Retire-Canada]

This meant I’d dump money into some ETF without knowing till next day what price it will clear.

If you are buying ETFs you don't need to wait until closing to buy. There may be a low point middle of the day and a high closing price. You can set a limit order and then it will only buy shares at that price or lower.

[OurTown]

Even with mutual funds if you pull the trigger in the early afternoon on a "really bad day," it's a relatively good bet it will still be a down day when the new NAV posts. 

[Jack0Life]

Buying on down days.  Contributing to emergency fund on up days.

Exactly what I'm doing.
I keep throwing money on down days right before the market closes @4pm.

Interesting!!

I generally sit down after dinner to do all money shuffling/rebalancing etc.
This meant I’d dump money into some ETF without knowing till next day what price it will clear.

You guys seem to do something better :-).

Can you please share more details? Which brokerage(s), etf(s)? Practically speaking, when do I need to hit the button for that order to clear on that day’s closing price?

I use Vanguard. This applies to mutual funds.
Since I'm nothing working right now I usually reserve my 3-4pm as whats need to be done.
If I buy/reallocate funds before it closes @4pm(as long as you get in before 3:59), then I will get the price @close.
Especially on days when the market dropped ~1000 pts, I use that opportunity to buy in for the so called "discount" price. If you wait till the day is over and you reallocate/buy, then you're at the mercy on what the market will do the next day.

[ctuser1]

hmmmm.. I did a bit more research.

My No-Brainer go-to fund is FXAIX. I gravitated towards this because of the low expense ratio (0.015%) and the fact that I can put an arbitrary amount of money as many times as I want - even $1.

I'll need to look into IVV, the etf counterpart from IShares (which Fidelity has a partnership with). Perhaps when I'm dumping in larger amounts into the market - I could use the IVV with limit orders.

<edited to add>
Cross posted with Jack0Life.

I will also try the idea of waiting till 3:55 or so and then placing the order.
Markets sometime run up (or down) a lot in the last half an hour (because large lots tend to get posted then so that it is more difficult to front run). But that directionality should be evident by 3:55 or so.

Thanks.

[JAYSLOL]

Yep, throwing money into the market every week.  Got to be honest, I’m a little disappointed the market rebounded so quickly, I don’t keep a lot of cash on hand so I can only throw in extra money as it comes in. 

[hodedofome]

I’ve been buying the past few weeks in my margin account, and last week started leveraging up using index futures and margin loan. I added to my positions in NFLX, AMZN, RNG, SHOP today.

Monday of this week I sold some underperformers in my IRA accounts and added NFLX and AMZN heavy in those accounts. NFLX and AMZN will double in the next year, book it. They’ve been going nowhere for also 2 years now, and appear to be breaking free from the prices that have held the stocks back during that time. Looks like the sellers have dried up so any buying is driving the price up.

[shinn497]

Most of my investments are automated so I throw in regardless

[Catica]

Sorry for an elementary question, but how do you guys know towards the end of the day what the market is doing to know whether to buy that day or not? I only buy VTSAX. 

[ctuser1]

Sorry for an elementary question, but how do you guys know towards the end of the day what the market is doing to know whether to buy that day or not? I only buy VTSAX.

finance.google.com

I just watch how sp500 is doing.

If, at 3:45, you see it is down for the day, that will likely be a dip day (unless there is a very strong rally in the last 15 minutes, which can and does happen).

Maybe others have better suggestions.

[Catica]

Sorry for an elementary question, but how do you guys know towards the end of the day what the market is doing to know whether to buy that day or not? I only buy VTSAX.

finance.google.com

I just watch how sp500 is doing.

If, at 3:45, you see it is down for the day, that will likely be a dip day (unless there is a very strong rally in the last 15 minutes, which can and does happen).

Maybe others have better suggestions.

Do you just refresh that page several times a day to see the changes?

[Steeze]

NW is back to where it was all the way back in January 2020. Running a budget deficit buying as much as I can as often as I can. Still have 10% in cash ready for a retest if lows... or not.

[ctuser1]

Sorry for an elementary question, but how do you guys know towards the end of the day what the market is doing to know whether to buy that day or not? I only buy VTSAX.

finance.google.com

I just watch how sp500 is doing.

If, at 3:45, you see it is down for the day, that will likely be a dip day (unless there is a very strong rally in the last 15 minutes, which can and does happen).

Maybe others have better suggestions.

Do you just refresh that page several times a day to see the changes?

Disclaimer: I have not employed this strategy to gainfully time the market. :-) I doubt that is quite possible over the long term, of if possible, that the effects are very high. I take it as a mechanism to satisfy my timing itch (which is considerable, and a holdover from my single stock picking days).

When I can remember to do so during the workday, I would just go to the finance.google.com page right before the market close. If, at around 3:45 (yes, refresh the page) you see SP500 is significantly down, then it is likely to stay a down day.

Again, my personal opinion is that I am going to use this only to satisfy my timing itch. I don't expect the long term results to meaningfully improve doing this. Others who have actually done this might have better suggestions :-D.

[Steeze]

I split up my investments so I invest everyday in mutual funds at close. Set up 5 automatic investments with vanguard into mutual funds each on a separate day. That way I don’t have to think about it at all. Doesn’t include my 401k - so every other Thursday is a big lump compared to other days. And the Thursdays opposite my 401k are IRA contributions... so I have a Weekday index with a Thursday tilt.

[Jack0Life]

Sorry for an elementary question, but how do you guys know towards the end of the day what the market is doing to know whether to buy that day or not? I only buy VTSAX.

finance.google.com

I just watch how sp500 is doing.

If, at 3:45, you see it is down for the day, that will likely be a dip day (unless there is a very strong rally in the last 15 minutes, which can and does happen).

Maybe others have better suggestions.

YES. VTSAX is very closely mirror the S&P 500.
Especially if the market is having a rough day(down 5% or more) I would buy in right before 4pm closing time. As long as you get in by 3:59, you will buy in for the closing price of VTSAX.

[Jack0Life]

Moved another $20k back into VTSAX @3:55 today.
Market was down roughly 1.65%

[Daisyedwards800]

Moved another $16,000 back into vanguard index fund today.  I've been steadily buying since 3/23 (10-30,000 a week).

[Padonak]

Invested about $1000 in an S&P500 etf. First time im buying stocks since last year.

[Jack0Life]

Looks like another buying day.

[ixtap]

I bet it will go up by the end of the week. It seems to do that around payday lately.

[Alternatepriorities]

I bet it will go up by the end of the week. It seems to do that around payday lately.

+1

[Daisyedwards800]

Bought another $24,000 today after close.

[Jack0Life]

Was debating between $20k and $15k and I ended up moving $15k back into VLCAX.
So now I have $85k of roughly $300k back into VLCAX and VTSAX.

[bthewalls]

Was tempted to sell but just kept buying cause a) market timing is impossible and everyone here seems to get caught b) to lazy to market time

[use2betrix]

I dumped in about $30k-$40k from my emergency fund into the market in March, mostly to VTSAX and some into an oil & gas company I work for. Aside from that, I’ve been depositing my standard $4k twice per month, then around $2200 into my 401k each month. This does allow my emergency fund to also grow, which I’ll probably pad pack up. We currently have about $70k in the emergency fund, which could last us a bit over a year. Since oil and gas has crashed, I’d like to pad that a bit more as I work as a contractor. My next year of projects “seems” super secure, and I should save another $200k or so in that time, however at this point, nothing would surprise me..

Unfortunately, in very early March, before we had any idea what was coming, we replaced our 21 year old Camry with a 2020 corolla hatchback. Not the most mustachian choice, but it cost us less than I saved in the month of January, so can’t feel too bad about it.

[ctuser1]

I am a little p*ssed with myself because I have managed to rack up almost $2000 of non-repeating expenses on stuff within the last two billing cycles of the credit card.

About $1700 of it - I accounted for up-thread. The most recent hit was that the "good deal" I thought I got on the M18 milwaukee tools + battery I purchased don;t come with a charger. This means I need to drop another $120 on a 6-battery charger pack (single battery ones are not cheap enough to be worth it) to actually make them useful.

#$%$%^%

I am pledging to myself that:
1. I will make no more than $200/mo in these types of purchases going forward.
2. I will try to ratchet up as much as possible above and beyond the $1000-$1500 I am putting into the taxable brokerage account.

[Steeze]

Still have 5% of cash in my settlement account at Vanguard. Starting to feel some major FOMO. Sharkey hands and itchy trigger finger. Trying to stay calm and keep some cash.

Still making all my schedule purchases which is about my cash position every month! Hah. Seems silly to be anxious over buying a little extra, but what if I can get more tomorrow!?

[maisymouser]

Was tempted to sell but just kept buying cause a) market timing is impossible and everyone here seems to get caught b) to lazy to market time

+1

I'm enjoying watching y'all have fun buying/selling based on gut feelings though! If I *did* have extra cash I'd just be throwing it in to sit for a loooong time, I have no interest in trying to time the market during this crazy period.

[bthewalls]

I like this thread...

For a passive investor like me I just buy index frequent and pile in during slumps...no thinking needed...but it’s very safe since I don’t need the money for a long time....if I was close fire I’d be sweating.....lol

However, I feel that this covid lockdown will pass and markets will continue until the end of the current growth cycle....i do believe the next recession will be shocking though.

[vand]

I'm considering doing something similar.  We have a large cash position that I was holding to buy real estate potentially.  We also have and emergency fund of $60k that has never been needed in 20 years (very stable job).   My only hesitation is that we are planning on retiring in 7-10 years.  That money will definitely need to be used early in retirement.   I've always seen that as "safe" money and have let it sit in CD's (and I have flipped a couple houses with that money). 

I'm pretty aggressive in my 401ks/IRA's (75/25). This pot of money hasn't been invested all these years so I feel like I'd be wasting a great opportunity to buy this market.  For some reason I'm having a tough time pulling the trigger.

Like many things in life, timing is everything. 

This is the same problem I'm having.  I can't wrap my head around an SP500 trailing PE of 20.53 (as of when I type this).  What that's really saying is that SP500 stocks merit a price that is 20.53 times earnings BEFORE COVID. To me that's not a little crazy. That's full out, get out the straightjacket, bat-s*** bonkers.

There are I think 3 things causing this:
1. Central bank interventions
2. Fed interventions
3. To infinity and beyond! Fed interventions. 

If our "No Part of The 1% Left Behind" policy means backstopping the debt of essentially every publicly traded company via the Fed, then there really is no extreme downside (i.e. bankruptcy risk) to those companies.

So I guess the question we really should be asking is why isn't the Dow at 40,000 yet?

At the risk of going a tiny bit off topic:
Trailing P/E of 20 => flip it around => earning/earned 5% p.y. of the price paid to acquire the asset.
Compare that with the price for cash-flow of fixed income assets. Does risk premium alone justify this spread? Or is it that the broad index fund has a return beyond the rational risk premium over and above the fixed income assets?

Viewed from this angle, stocks are a good value *even* @20 PE, despite the expected dip for a few quarters, assuming you minimize your risk by buying a broader index and not try to predict which company was swimming naked in the market.

It's possible that the entire market will tank. But then, nothing you can do financially will help you. So I strongly believe that the most rational course of action is to stop worrying and do what I am doing.

(It's mind-boggling how brazen the 1% can be at grabbing public money. So I am intentionally staying off my pet-rant on the socialism at display for the rich to stop dragging this thread further down the drain.)

To highlight the point about the future expected return on fixed income: https://movement.capital/the-bond-offer-you-can-refuse/

[RWD]

I bought more stocks this month according to my investment policy statement.

[Retire-Canada]

I bought more stocks this month according to my investment policy statement.

Nice. I am excited for the end of the month so I'll have some excess cash to invest.