What just happened??? Anyone else freaked out about the markets???

[NinetyFour]

I'll be too scared to look at my retirement funds tonight.  Yeah, I know--I'm supposed to think long-term and not be looking at the Dow every 30 minutes like I do.  But yikes!!

And no, I'm not going to change anything--monthly contributions will still get made...

Anyone else sad about today's plunge?

[seattlecyclone]

Anyone else sad about today's plunge?

Why should I be? It's only a couple percent, and I'm still in the accumulation phase. I took the opportunity to invest some more cash into some index funds.

[jasman18]

[Allen]

I've been praying for a 10-20% correction for months now.  I want it to go down and stay down for years I hope.

[NinetyFour]

Hmm--I'm looking to retire in 5 - 8 years, so I'm not sure I want your wish to come true, Allen.

[jfer_rose]

One benefit of a low(er) information diet is that I had no idea the markets had gone down. Now that I'm aware of it from reading your post, I'm not stressing-- no point really, as the only action I could take at this point (i.e., selling stocks) would likely make things worse instead of better.

[Ftao93]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Just kidding.

Since I own nothing, and only started even setting a useful amount in the 401k last year, I'm not losing much.  I knew going into it that I would be easily be the tail end of the Bull.  Of course I was looking and thinking this whole time that, since the economy was doing better, we should all be Kings soon.  Little did I know the 'bull' had been going on ever since the last crash.

Nothing to do now but add another 2% into the 401k!

[arebelspy]

Hmm--I'm looking to retire in 5 - 8 years, so I'm not sure I want your wish to come true, Allen.

Heck yes you do.  You're either misunderstanding what he said, or misunderstanding how investing works.  But what he said would be your dream scenario.  (This would not be the case if you were looking to ER in 3 months.)

One benefit of a low(er) information diet is that I had no idea the markets had gone down.

+1.  Likely never would have found out.  But there's always someone on the forums to start a thread like this (this is at least the third one of these, IIRC.  Here's an earlier one).  ;)

[MountainMan]

Since I use the 3-fund portfolio to invest, I don't even pay attention to the markets, really.  I check once in a while, but it's more for novelty.

If I had to guess what's going on the right the market right now, it's probably Russia and Ukraine and the land grabs that are going on right now.

It'll pass.

I just rebalance once in a while and call it good.  I'm a long-term investor anyway.

[sol]

I'm thrilled it's down, because we just sold several tens of thousands of dollars worth of investments last week, near the market top.  We've been stashing money in the markets in preparation for buying a house, and when we found one we sold our down payment fund while it was up rather than risk letting it ride for another month until the closing date.

So for that very perverted reason, I'm sort of glad to see it tank.  Just because it means I (very randomly) sold at the right time. 

[aclarridge]

I still have 5-8 years in the accumulation phase, so any market drop is great! My biggest grievance with our portfolio lately is it's just doing too well. Feels like it costs me so much when I invest (just put in a large amount last week).

[Frankies Girl]

Meh. They've been discussing a correction for over a year now, and this isn't even that much of a drop really. I'm just sad that I have no ready cash to throw in. :(

[sol]

Even after the last week of declines, the market is basically flat for the year.  I'd be happy if it stayed flat for the rest of the year, given the recent outsized returns.   Volatility would be lower if we had a year or two of 0-4% returns, rather than a sixth year of 20%+ and then a 40% drop.  I like seeing slow steady growth because it's easier to plan around.

[Eric]

Stanley and I are both FREAKING OUT!!!!

[Baylor3217]

I'm thrilled it's down, because we just sold several tens of thousands of dollars worth of investments last week, near the market top.  We've been stashing money in the markets in preparation for buying a house, and when we found one we sold our down payment fund while it was up rather than risk letting it ride for another month until the closing date.

So for that very perverted reason, I'm sort of glad to see it tank.  Just because it means I (very randomly) sold at the right time.

I hear what you're saying.  However, how can you claim "near the market top"?  Yes you may be able to say it's near the top based on the last 90 days, but what's to say the market isn't up 10% from here by the end of the year?  Or that it goes down 15% from here and finishes the year up 10% for a 25% return from the bottom?

[Grateful Stache]

Happens.

[Argyle]

The markets are down?  Time to buy!

[Ian]

Because of this thread I logged in to check my investments. They look about the same.

[sol]

I hear what you're saying.  However, how can you claim "near the market top"?

I only meant near the top for the week, and if I'm particularly lucky, near the top for the month before we close on the house.  When dealing with defined time periods like the span between signing on a house and closing on a house, the "top" has a pretty clear meaning.

If the market rebounds above last week's price before mid May, I will have traded a lower price for more stability and certainty.  I'm good with that, because suddenly my time horizon on this deal is measured in days and I prefer an all cash asset allocation over such short time horizons.

[NinetyFour]

I've been praying for a 10-20% correction for months now.  I want it to go down and stay down for years I hope.

If it goes down 20% and stays down for 30 years, I don't think that will be good for me--since I will be 82--and possibly dead by that time.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  I'm sure arebelspy will.

I do understand about long-term versus short term, as I said in my original post.  Is there no room here for someone to say yikes, I just lost $5000 overnight without being told they are being stupid?  Yes, I do understand enough about investing to know that, should the markets come back up, all we be well--and that I will actually be better off because I continued to invest when the markets were down.

I think I'll go back to the Journals section now.  Sheesh.

[arebelspy]

Yes, staying down for 30 years would be bad. For the next several would be great for those in the accumulation phase, like yourself, or FI40 or Allen or multiple other posters in this thread.

And if you're so thin-skinned that a question about what you meant offends you so much, yes, your journal is the best place, you'll have trouble on the broader internet, or even other sections of this forum where people have real discussions with questions and explanations without getting offended about it.

/shrug

Sorry if this post offends you.

[webguy]

I'd bloody love it if they tanked again tomorrow. I threw a little into VTSAX before 3pm today so that I'd get that 2% discount!

[NinetyFour]

Yes, staying down for 30 years would be bad. For the next several would be great for those in the accumulation phase, like yourself, or FI40 or Allen or multiple other posters in this thread.

And if you're so thin-skinned that a question about what you meant offends you so much, yes, your journal is the best place, you'll have trouble on the broader internet, or even other sections of this forum where people have real discussions with questions and explanations without getting offended about it.

Emphasis mine above.  I didn't see any question about what I meant.  I saw that you stated that I either misunderstood Allen's comment or I misunderstand investing.  Neither was true.

I have learned a great deal on this forum, but I generally don't respond well when I am basically told that I am stupid.

Shrugging it off with my thick skin.  Life is awesome, with its downturns and its upturns! 

I do appreciate the comments that these downturns are not something I should worry about that.  As I said initially, I do understand that--but the little part of me that reacts to the short term says yikes, nonetheless.

Back to regularly scheduled programming...

[daverobev]

Thing is, OP, nothing happened. Watch the man/woman/child walking the dog, not the dog.

Global economy's doing a'ight, climate change aside (and which is what really scares me... tar sands and fracking? Fuck).

[johnintaiwan]

This great news! just wired money back to the us to invest. I don't ever try to time the market, but it is nice when things happen to be down at the same time you plan to buy.

[Cyrano]

It's like the last time this happened was Jan 24 or something.

[johnintaiwan]

It's like the last time this happened was Jan 24 or something.

I think so, which happened to be at the same time I wired money back last. beginners luck?

[Abe]

I don't understand what happened. The indices just varied within their normal range of a few percent, right?

[Vorpal]

I was all set to slide a chunk of dough into the S&P index about 20 minutes before market close, when a work friend came into my office and distracted me... He left right at close. :/  Hopefully we see another drop tomorrow, but I'm probably buying anyway.

[stevesteve]

I don't understand what happened. The indices just varied within their normal range of a few percent, right?

It was the biggest single day loss in about 3 years.  It is a significant change for a day and notable for a daily financial column.  Is it anything anyone should be worrying about even if they need to draw on their retirement soon? No, not unless there's a lot more of it to come.

[innerscorecard]

And this is why riskier assets aren't "just" better. Riskier assets (including stocks in general!) produce higher expected returns over time, but expected returns include a wide range of outcomes. Some of which include losing money.

You can see that in the relative performance of small-cap stocks recently. Yes, historically speaking small-cap stocks give higher EXPECTED returns. But that's no free lunch.

[dragoncar]

I'm liking the tone here but I'm still left wondering if the drop was on appreciable news or just general sentiment.

[innerscorecard]

I'm liking the tone here but I'm still left wondering if the drop was on appreciable news or just general sentiment.

It's quite futile to find reasons for short-term moves in stocks or the market as a whole. Even retroactively. It's easy to fit multiple possible narratives or explanations to any such moves and hard to know which one is true.

[geekette]

As someone who is not in the accumulation phase, a 5 digit drop is not fun.  Might be a good time to start the Roth conversion/pipeline, though.

[Cottonswab]

Feeling relatively smug/validated =) 

My overall portfolio lost money (unrealized).  However, I reduced my allocations to health care and small-cap stocks and increased my allocation to cash, bonds, and emerging market stocks, just before the recent downturn.   

[dragoncar]

I'm liking the tone here but I'm still left wondering if the drop was on appreciable news or just general sentiment.

It's quite futile to find reasons for short-term moves in stocks or the market as a whole. Even retroactively. It's easy to fit multiple possible narratives or explanations to any such moves and hard to know which one is true.

Well sometimes the Fed comes out and says they are raising rates or whatever and the drop is obviously due to that news.

[Abe]

Ah, one of those "the market dropped ___ , the largest drop in ___ months" news days. I swear someone out there's written a script that makes those articles. It only matters if you were going to cash out half your money tomorrow to go buy a yacht. Otherwise, just wait till we get a "the market reached ____, the highest point in ____ months". 

[dragoncar]

Ah, one of those "the market dropped ___ , the largest drop in ___ months" news days. I swear someone out there's written a script that makes those articles. It only matters if you were going to cash out half your money tomorrow to go buy a yacht. Otherwise, just wait till we get a "the market reached ____, the highest point in ____ months".

Every time the Dow reaches a new high, I buy a yacht.

[Emilyngh]

*yawn*

[warfreak2]

I swear someone out there's written a script that makes those articles.

They have:

Media companies like Forbes, the Huffington Post, Business Insider and Sports Illustrated have either backed the companies or are using their services to distribute content efficiently and with fewer staff members.
[...]
Financial reporters — Numbers, numbers, and more numbers. This is where Business Insider and Forbes have hopped on board. To interpret on a basic scale stock market moves and ever-changing figures associated with Fortune 500 companies, I can see where computer-generated reporting might lighten a media organization’s load.

[KBecks]

I've read that its' good to be able to visualize your investment #s getting whacked,  prepare for the worst case scenario, let's say a 40% drop.  If you have mentally prepared that that could happen (and it could!) then you have cultivated a good temperament for investing. 

That is not to say that a 40% drop is going to be an easy thing to take, but you have to have the guts to handle it.  And to invest through that kind of a down market.

If you only visualize up, up, up, up, it's an unrealistic view and you're setting yourself up for some bad days / sleepless nights.

[KBecks]

As someone who is not in the accumulation phase, a 5 digit drop is not fun.  Might be a good time to start the Roth conversion/pipeline, though.

Is the money that you need for the next 3 -5 years in a spot where it's not getting bounced around?  You may want to ensure that.

[arebelspy]

I've read that its' good to be able to visualize your investment #s getting whacked,  prepare for the worst case scenario, let's say a 40% drop.  If you have mentally prepared that that could happen (and it could!) then you have cultivated a good temperament for investing. 

That is not to say that a 40% drop is going to be an easy thing to take, but you have to have the guts to handle it.  And to invest through that kind of a down market.

If you only visualize up, up, up, up, it's an unrealistic view and you're setting yourself up for some bad days / sleepless nights.

That's a good idea.

A 2% drop (hopefully) shouldn't freak you out.

And then you can combine it into some sweet stoicism negative visualization being happy when the market didn't drop that 40% (or whatever you're visualizing).

[DrTesla]

Many tech Insiders starting selling 2 weeks ago before the drops. They know something we don't. I wonder if this has to do with that wave still.

Fed reserve is still buying bonds, so unless that wheel is about to stop..

Either way buy low, sell high. Insiders usually got paid in stock a year or five ago when prices where lower, so they will find reasons to sell, such as record highs for their stocks.

[kyleaaa]

I'll be too scared to look at my retirement funds tonight.  Yeah, I know--I'm supposed to think long-term and not be looking at the Dow every 30 minutes like I do.  But yikes!!

And no, I'm not going to change anything--monthly contributions will still get made...

Anyone else sad about today's plunge?

3% isn't a plunge, bro.

Many tech Insiders starting selling 2 weeks ago before the drops. They know something we don't. I wonder if this has to do with that wave still.

Not necessarily. Far more likely is that it's just random coincidence.

[gillstone]

Meh.  If a crash comes then funds will get cheap and be a nice buy.  If the market stays up then your portfolio is worth more and you get a better dividend.  Unless you plan on retiring in the next 12 months, nothing short of a full-on 2008 meltdown will really make a difference in the long run.   

[soccerluvof4]

Bought the dip....

[Allen]

I've been praying for a 10-20% correction for months now.  I want it to go down and stay down for years I hope.

If it goes down 20% and stays down for 30 years, I don't think that will be good for me--since I will be 82--and possibly dead by that time.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  I'm sure arebelspy will.

I do understand about long-term versus short term, as I said in my original post.  Is there no room here for someone to say yikes, I just lost $5000 overnight without being told they are being stupid?  Yes, I do understand enough about investing to know that, should the markets come back up, all we be well--and that I will actually be better off because I continued to invest when the markets were down.

I think I'll go back to the Journals section now.  Sheesh.

I apologize.  In no way did I intend to imply you were stupid.  I'm sorry I offended you.

[Jack]

I am doing a big transfer from taxable to my IRA this week (sell VTI, buy VTSAX).. I hope the market tanks more this afternoon and I get a bonus on my accidental market-timing!

[innerscorecard]

Freaked out?  Let me check.

*logs into bank website*

Sure enough, all the rents that came in for April are still there.  Maybe I take some of that $ and buy stocks that just went on sale...

The daily swings of the market don't bother some of us that much when the investments aren't all in the market.

The thing is - that is exactly true for those in the market too! Like Buffett says, by-the-second quotations should be a positive only, but they somehow become a curse.

The cash generating ability of the businesses you own through stocks doesn't change with the day to day stock price!