well, finally got out of my other position and am now back in. too late of course for the big runup. so it goes.
in that account, i ended up down 1.4%
other account, i was up 11.4%
net gain comes out to $9788
yes, not big numbers in the grand scheme of things.
better than nothing. could've been much better had my ego to go for a home run when the dow was at 18k wasn't as strong. i didn't know that rick ankiel was in the outfield that day.
i suspect the market will eventually drop bigly in the next 2 months when the reality of economic impacts becomes more pronounced or when the economy 'restarts' but then shuts down again after cases explode. i didn't like the idea of stomaching a loss. the "gains" (i.e. not losing money) felt ok, but the stress was starting to build for me as markets started to reach breakeven point relative to the time i moved part of my 401k account.
I can totally relate.
Everyday I wake up hoping for the market to tank so I can put more money back in the market and then my mood turn sour when it does not.
I trying to hit that home run too when I should have been happy with a bunch of singles.
The only difference with me is that I got out near the top so I have a lot of flexibility to get my money back in. I got $200k out @Dow 29400 and the rest $100k @Dow 26700. Dow is sitting @24000 but I'm still ahead relatively.
My biggest problem is that I too impatient. I've been in such a rush to take the gains and cash out.
- I reallocate $35k @18400 and took a huge gain and got back out.
- I did the same $15k @21000 and $10k 21500 and took the gains and got out again.
Should have gotten more back in(like my wife told me) and left it alone.
- Bought 100 shares of Delta @$22. Heard Buffett sold a bunch of Delta and I sold them all @22.30. Its close to $27 now.
- Made a huge mistake and bought 100 shares of ABT stocks @$83 when I did a "market" buy instead of "limit'. My mistake turned out to be pretty good. Sitting >$89 now.
I'm just a newbie investor being very cautious and having some interesting experience along the way. At least I'm not losing anything along the way. I'm just not gaining a whole lot when I should be.
But watching the market every single day is very stressing. I still have a lot of money sitting out on the sideline waiting to get back in. I still believe the market has some "lows" left. Just waiting for that one bad week to go back all in...LOL