Author Topic: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.  (Read 3223 times)

marty998

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Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« on: October 11, 2017, 05:40:11 AM »
It's probably not something that should be celebrated in the conventional sense, but October 19th will mark the 30th anniversary of the 1987 stockmarket crash.

I was wee little 20 month old tot on that day. In the interests of learning and understanding, is there anyone here old enough that lived through it and can share their thoughts on the day itself and how the average investor reacted to it?

Obviously hoping that something like that event doesn't happen again, but we know as sure as night follows day that history repeats all the time.

Thanks

SeattleCPA

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2017, 06:25:48 AM »
I was 27 and just completing my first year of self-employment. (I was writing quite a bit for Lotus magazine--does anybody remember Lotus 1-2-3?--and also some for Inc magazine... and then just writing my first book for this new spreadsheet program Microsoft had created for PCs... Excel.)

Two memories of the day and the day after and then a general memory of that fall and winter...

First, the day of the crash, I remember watching everything go south... and then trying to call T. Rowe Price, which is where in those days I had a brokerage account so I could buy some stock. I can't remember the specifics, but stocks were that day, at the trough, totally on sale.  The dividend yield on AT&T was astronomical and in those days you sort of still thought AT&T was blue chip rock solid. The thing was, you couldn't get through. The phone lines were jammed... I assume with people freaking.

Second, the day after the crash, the Wall Street Journal had a giant headline... sort of a  "stock market crash of '29" type vibe. I remember my principal consulting client saw it and said something like "Well, keep that for your grandkids... no one will forget this crash" (BTW I kept paper for a few years and then tossed when the whole thing obviously wasn't that significant.)

A general memory: The whole thing turned around pretty quickly. I can look at a chart or table now and see how quickly things recovered. And that was what it seemed like a the time... Almost a non-event...

P.S. Friday night that week, I also remember the "Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser" show... Rukeyser was coaching people to stay calm and remember stuff like your family and dog still loved you.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2017, 06:30:13 AM »
Like Seattle CPA, was in my twenties. The media treated it like the end of the world.

I was thinking it would be a great time to buy, but did not have a brokerage accounts since trading was very expensive then.

swinginbeef

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2017, 09:41:18 AM »
I have vague memories (I was 10 and doing more important things like riding bikes and throwing rocks) and I believe it was the first time I'd ever heard or thought about the stockmarket. I didn't understand why but knew the crash was a big deal. I remember my dad being very interested in what was happening and what was going to happen next, going through the newspaper looking at stock prices and such. I remember him listening to Joe Granville on the radio and buying his book "After the Crash". I don't remember him being particularly panicked or aggressively looking forward to buying in but it was the first time he taught me that you can buy stock and if the company does well the price will appreciate and you can make money.


OurTown

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2017, 11:26:23 AM »
I was a freshman in college getting drunk and trying (unsuccessfully) to get laid.  :-( 

I didn't notice the stock market crash.

LifeHappens

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2017, 11:32:33 AM »
I was just a kid, but my aunt's then-fiance (now my uncle) was a commodities trader. He lost north of $500 million of other people's money that day. It pretty much ended his trading career. He did fine in related lines of work, but I suspect he has always missed life in the pits.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2017, 03:04:15 PM »
I was wee little 20 month old tot on that day.

God, you’re so old. :P

NoraLenderbee

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2017, 03:40:28 PM »
It was quite a way to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday.

In the US, it didn't really have a big effect on the economy. No recession, and growth continued, even though it took 2 years for the market to reach the 1987 high point again.

mjr

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2017, 09:26:07 PM »
I was 21 and less than a year in my first job.  I read the headlines and having no money in the share market wasn't even close to be upset about it.

But that the fact it was a "crash" stuck with me for decades, such that it was only 2 years ago after much research and declining term deposit yields did I decide I actually had to put money in the share market.

Ah, what might have been if I'd spent that 30 years investing in the market instead of term deposits....

One Noisy Cat

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2017, 10:42:30 PM »
At the time I had about $12,500 in my IRA account and ker-plash...dropped to $10,000 in one day. I admit it felt like getting punched in the stomach. But I didn’t panic, sell, make any changes. Next few days were a wild ride..blue chips up a lot; rest of the market was down. Lots of people yelling that Reagan ushered in a new Great Depression but that didn’t happen (much like Obama didn’t bring one either). A woman named Elaine Gazarelli was introduced for the next 10 years as “having predicted it on national tv”. Which she did, but missed the quick recovery.
     But as someone said the following January. If you put your money in the market on 1/1/87, went to Antartica for a year without any contract with the outside world, came back on 1/1/88 and looked at your portfolio it was “worth is the same, nothing happened while I was gone”.

Mr Griz

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Re: Black Monday 30th Anniversary - October 19th.
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2017, 05:25:32 AM »
I was thinking that if I had the cash and nerves of steel I should be buying. Didn’t have either at that time.