I invested everything right before the cash ... help

[julia]

After I educated myself about the stock market, I decided I was going to invest in ETFs. I waited 2 months before deciding not to wait for a crash and invested 200k. A month after I invest, my portfolio is down almost 20%. I'm not going to sell because I went into it without my emotions but I feel so crappy for not waiting an extra month. I have no cash left over to buy now that everything is "on sale".

It's probably going to take a year or more just to go back up to where it was when I bought it. *sigh*

Cheer me up?

[HPstache]

That's a little rough, but maybe the story of "Bob the worlds worst market timer" will cheer you up?

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

[itchyfeet]

I trust that you don’t need the money in the next few years. That being the case just leave it and think about other things. Come back in 5 years or so and your $200K should be back there plus some.

I know it’s hard but it’s what you need to do

I feel your pain as I have been saving for a life time and had more than $2mil in stocks before this correction. $400K lost. Hopefully the market finds a floor soon.

[PDXTabs]

Cheer me up?

Your dividends are still getting reinvested (I hope).

[achvfi]

While it sucks to have invested at the peak, you are not in very different situation from folks that are just holding on to their investments, not selling at the peak. Including me.

We all lost about 20% of our investments now. You have lots of wonderful company.

It will workout long term. Cheers!

[BECABECA]

Silver lining #1: If you have dividends set to reinvest, then you will automatically be buying more stock while it’s on sale.

Silver lining #2: When your portfolio does recover, you’ll be inoculated against trying to time the market, since you’ll have witnessed firsthand how it grows even if it undergoes a massive drop at the beginning. Ask me how I know ;)

[julia]

Cheer me up?

Your dividends are still getting reinvested (I hope).

I'm with questrade and am split between VGRO and XGRO. I haven't received any dividends yet, is it 2.22% for VGRO? I can't find the % for XGRO.

[Frankies Girl]

I'm so sorry, I know that has to feel awful for you.

You probably already know all this below, and apologies if it seems simplistic, but I was one of those people that didn't realize the whole shares/pricing thing at the beginning so I feel obligated to explain it. It should be a "duh" kind of thing... but I never assume that now. ;)

This is normal and is supposed to happen - usually it happens more regularly but we had a longer than normal high/good run, so it's even more difficult to deal with for those that are now paying attention or experiencing it for the 1st time.

Your shares are still exactly the same as what you bought, they're just worth less than what you paid... for now.

Consider you just bought a grove of fruit trees but it's right after a frost so you lost your first crop of fruit. You still have the grove, but it's going to take a little while to harvest the fruit again and as long as you don't bulldoze the trees in a panic thinking "well, I could sell the wood!" - things will come back.

Don't give up, don't throw in the towel, and don't panic. Bad luck on the timing, but it will all work out given MORE time. Luck - good or bad - is technically not as important as being calm and patient. Even people with terrible timing make money if you wait long enough.
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

Keep planting new trees, and the existing ones there will start producing fruit again, and you'll have a lovely new $$ grove even better than it was when you first started eventually.

This totally sucks, and will suck for a little while. Even if it takes a year or two, it will come back.

[julia]

That's a little rough, but maybe the story of "Bob the worlds worst market timer" will cheer you up?

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

Thank you for this. :)

[lexde]

I'm so sorry, I know that has to feel awful for you.

You probably already know all this below, and apologies if it seems simplistic, but I was one of those people that didn't realize the whole shares/pricing thing at the beginning so I feel obligated to explain it. It should be a "duh" kind of thing... but I never assume that now. ;)

This is normal and is supposed to happen - usually it happens more regularly but we had a longer than normal high/good run, so it's even more difficult to deal with for those that are now paying attention or experiencing it for the 1st time.

Your shares are still exactly the same as what you bought, they're just worth less than what you paid... for now.

Consider you just bought a grove of fruit trees but it's right after a frost so you lost your first crop of fruit. You still have the grove, but it's going to take a little while to harvest the fruit again and as long as you don't bulldoze the trees in a panic thinking "well, I could sell the wood!" - things will come back.

Don't give up, don't throw in the towel, and don't panic. Bad luck on the timing, but it will all work out given MORE time. Luck - good or bad - is technically not as important as being calm and patient. Even people with terrible timing make money if you wait long enough.
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

Keep planting new trees, and the existing ones there will start producing fruit again, and you'll have a lovely new $$ grove even better than it was when you first started eventually.

This totally sucks, and will suck for a little while. Even if it takes a year or two, it will come back.

Well said!

[nereo]

That's a little rough, but maybe the story of "Bob the worlds worst market timer" will cheer you up?

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

Thank you for this. :)

v8rx7guy and frnkie's girl got to it first, but I'll just add this:  right now this looks and feels big, but 10 years from now it will just be a minor blip.  In 25 years it will be hard to pick out of a stock chart at all.

[julia]

That's a little rough, but maybe the story of "Bob the worlds worst market timer" will cheer you up?

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

Thank you for this. :)

v8rx7guy and frnkie's girl got to it first, but I'll just add this:  right now this looks and feels big, but 10 years from now it will just be a minor blip.  In 25 years it will be hard to pick out of a stock chart at all.

Thank you for this - you guys are great.
I do have a question. If it says a 2.22% dividend yield for VGRO and they pay out quarterly. Does this mean 2.22 split into 4 payments? Or 2.22% every quarter?

[Dogastrophe]

Thank you for this - you guys are great.
I do have a question. If it says a 2.22% dividend yield for VGRO and they pay out quarterly. Does this mean 2.22 split into 4 payments? Or 2.22% every quarter?

That would be the annual yield so yes, divide it by 4 to get a rough estimate.  I'm not familiar with how QuestTrade shows things - my iTrade account has a tab called Income Details that shows the projected dividend for the quarter and year.  If you want, you should be able to set each of your ETF's up to automatically reinvest the dividend - good way to pick up a few extra shares without having any transaction cost.  Any $$ that won't buy a full share will be deposited into the brokerage account and will show as cash.

[Legsofsteel]

Cheer me up?

Your dividends are still getting reinvested (I hope).

I'm with questrade and am split between VGRO and XGRO. I haven't received any dividends yet, is it 2.22% for VGRO? I can't find the % for XGRO.

Any reason why you went for both? They are basically the same thing.

Either one is an excellent choice by the way.

[Brother Esau]

My stash went down over 30% after both the 2000 dotcom bubble and the 2008 recession. Stayed the course both times and eventually the markets rebounded. They will again this time, in due time. As they always do.

[julia]

Cheer me up?

Your dividends are still getting reinvested (I hope).

I'm with questrade and am split between VGRO and XGRO. I haven't received any dividends yet, is it 2.22% for VGRO? I can't find the % for XGRO.

Any reason why you went for both? They are basically the same thing.

Either one is an excellent choice by the way.

Honestly just for funsies ... and so that it looks like I have more control over my portfolio.

[dougules]

What's much worse than anything the market is doing right now?  These jokes:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/off-topic/tell-me-your-stupid-jokes/

[FIRE 20/20]

The silver lining to your situation is that you're dealing with the suffering that comes from this kind of drop now rather than later - because you have to experience it at some point.  This painful lesson will help you deal with the next downturns with equanimity.  It's going to suck for a while, but trust me - the next downturn will be a lot less difficult.  How do I know?  I started investing with a small inheritance right before the dot com bust, and put in a significant amount before and during the global financial crisis in 2008/09.  For the past 9 months, I've been happily FIREd.  Today I plan to read, play some music, and exercise.  I just took a walk outside, and I spent the last week skiing.  My intent isn't to brag, but to show that while the lessons are painful now you'll get to a point where you see a drop of 30% in the market and just move on as though none of it matters.  I honestly don't care at all about the drop, and while I haven't checked I'd bet I've "lost" more than your entire $200k over the past few weeks.  It doesn't impact me at all any more, but it took a lot of heartburn during those prior two drops for me to learn the lesson. 
Stay the course.  The payoff is definitely worth it, even with bumps like this along the way. 

[Legsofsteel]

Cheer me up?

Your dividends are still getting reinvested (I hope).

I'm with questrade and am split between VGRO and XGRO. I haven't received any dividends yet, is it 2.22% for VGRO? I can't find the % for XGRO.

Any reason why you went for both? They are basically the same thing.

Either one is an excellent choice by the way.

Honestly just for funsies ... and so that it looks like I have more control over my portfolio.

Did you spread it across a TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered account?

[julia]

Cheer me up?

Your dividends are still getting reinvested (I hope).

I'm with questrade and am split between VGRO and XGRO. I haven't received any dividends yet, is it 2.22% for VGRO? I can't find the % for XGRO.

Any reason why you went for both? They are basically the same thing.

Either one is an excellent choice by the way.

Honestly just for funsies ... and so that it looks like I have more control over my portfolio.

Did you spread it across a TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered account?

Oh shoot I forgot about the details:
60k is in a TFSA invested in individual stocks with Edward Jones (fully maxed out)

Below are the funds in questrade (split evenly between VGRO and XGRO):
17.5k is in my husbands TFSA (fully maxed out - he's a new resident of Canada)
14k in my RRSP (fully maxed out)
The rest (130k ish) is in my taxable margin account.

[G-String]

After I educated myself about the stock market, I decided I was going to invest in ETFs. I waited 2 months before deciding not to wait for a crash and invested 200k. A month after I invest, my portfolio is down almost 20%. I'm not going to sell because I went into it without my emotions but I feel so crappy for not waiting an extra month. I have no cash left over to buy now that everything is "on sale".

It's probably going to take a year or more just to go back up to where it was when I bought it. *sigh*

Cheer me up?

I've lost almost $20k in the last few days so we are all in the same boat.  Did you happen to invest in any individual bonds funds? 

[John Galt incarnate!]

After I educated myself about the stock market, I decided I was going to invest in ETFs. I waited 2 months before deciding not to wait for a crash and invested 200k. A month after I invest, my portfolio is down almost 20%. I'm not going to sell because I went into it without my emotions but I feel so crappy for not waiting an extra month. I have no cash left over to buy now that everything is "on sale".

It's probably going to take a year or more just to go back up to where it was when I bought it. *sigh*

Cheer me up?

Please do not allow the timing of your decision to enter the stock market to weigh upon you and erode your happiness and contentment.

Future stock-market fluctuations (their magnitude) are, and will always be, uncertain.

Thus, when you entered the stock market there was no possibility of your knowing a  20%  sell-off was in the offing.

You don't deserve any feelings of culpability for the decline in the value of your portfolio.

None.

[dummy]

Just remember you can’t time the market.  Or it is chance if you can.

Hang in there. These dips will more than rebound.

If nothing else election years are safe.

[Simpli-Fi]

Good news, you haven't "lost" anything.

Emotional lesson on dollar cost averaging...learning the hard way what works better for your risk profile...you'll never forget

[MoneyTree]

Yeah, it is normal to feel like you got punched in the gut. That's ok. Most everyone has to experience at least a few of these bad beats in their investing education. Consider it your tuition. As others have mentioned, its probably better to experience these things earlier in your investing journey rather than experience only success and start getting reckless with even larger sums of money.

it takes some time to learn to not kick yourself over the "could have beens" (there are always more of these, even if your investments are doing well) and just focus on learning and finding satisfaction in making the right decisions rather than getting the right outcomes in the short run. If you focus on making the right decisions and stay the course, eventually you will find yourself way ahead and amazed at how you got there.

[Leisured]

That's a little rough, but maybe the story of "Bob the worlds worst market timer" will cheer you up?

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

Good link, v8rx7.

[PoutineLover]

I did the exact same thing in the summer of 2018. Dumped all my money in VGRO, and then watched it go down for a few months. It sucks, but then it started going up again, and the whole time I was adding more money. I must be down again now, I haven't looked in detail, but since I don't need the money for a while, it doesn't matter. Don't panic, and just keep investing.

[slappy]

I'm so sorry, I know that has to feel awful for you.

You probably already know all this below, and apologies if it seems simplistic, but I was one of those people that didn't realize the whole shares/pricing thing at the beginning so I feel obligated to explain it. It should be a "duh" kind of thing... but I never assume that now. ;)

This is normal and is supposed to happen - usually it happens more regularly but we had a longer than normal high/good run, so it's even more difficult to deal with for those that are now paying attention or experiencing it for the 1st time.

Your shares are still exactly the same as what you bought, they're just worth less than what you paid... for now.

Consider you just bought a grove of fruit trees but it's right after a frost so you lost your first crop of fruit. You still have the grove, but it's going to take a little while to harvest the fruit again and as long as you don't bulldoze the trees in a panic thinking "well, I could sell the wood!" - things will come back.

Don't give up, don't throw in the towel, and don't panic. Bad luck on the timing, but it will all work out given MORE time. Luck - good or bad - is technically not as important as being calm and patient. Even people with terrible timing make money if you wait long enough.
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/

Keep planting new trees, and the existing ones there will start producing fruit again, and you'll have a lovely new $$ grove even better than it was when you first started eventually.

This totally sucks, and will suck for a little while. Even if it takes a year or two, it will come back.

Great analogy!

[PaulMaxime]

I did this back in 2007. Sold my house and put the proceeds right into the market at the very peak in late 2007. Portfolio lost about half its value between then and March 2009 when it finally bottomed out.

This was not the only money I had to invest. I kept adding to my accounts each month as I got more cash to invest.

Years later I look back and the financial crisis looks like a small blip on my overall account growth. It's unfortunate for you that your timing was poor at this moment, but the good thing is that you are now invested and should keep adding.