Top was in this time.
I encourage anyone who is looking at their portfolio regularly enough to have noticed this dip to stop doing so. People who look at their portfolios often perform overall worse in the market, because they become tempted to adjust and fiddle. Don't tempt yourself!Excellent advice. Interestingly, I find myself watching more often now than I normally do. I have no intention of touching anything. Well, maybe I'm tempted to dump in a little bit of otherwise idle cash...
Now is not the time to panic or punish yourself for something out of your control.
I encourage anyone who is looking at their portfolio regularly enough to have noticed this dip to stop doing so. People who look at their portfolios often perform overall worse in the market, because they become tempted to adjust and fiddle. Don't tempt yourself!
Thanks. Pulled the plug in Feb and put 20k final payoff of sick leave into market retirement acct absolute peak. Fortunately, we oversaved and hold cash, so the 500k drop in net worth doesnt feel like much of an issue...still, kinda some bad sequence of returns luck.
Wait, is something going on with the markets...?
I'm less than 4 weeks from FIRE, so I haven't been feeling warm and fuzzy about the market recently :-) My portfolio has been moving down in $10K daily increments and I have just made my last monthly auto investment on Monday...Extra hugs for you. It's hard to face this sequence of return timing. I'm still 10 months away, but definitely not as excited for "stocks being on sale" as I would have been if a correction had come to the market a few years ago, when people started saying it was time.
Thanks. Pulled the plug in Feb and put 20k final payoff of sick leave into market retirement acct absolute peak. Fortunately, we oversaved and hold cash, so the 500k drop in net worth doesnt feel like much of an issue...still, kinda some bad sequence of returns luck.
I'm going to add that if you're part of one of those "race to..." threads and recent market activity means technically you don't "belong" there any more, DON'T move back to your old group! You got there before fair and square and your numbers will return again. Keep the faith, keep adding to your stache. Now is not the time to panic or punish yourself for something out of your control.
I hit my highest savings rate ever in 2008 and am FIRE now because of what happened when the market roared back.
Piling on to the group hug.
Wait, is something going on with the markets...?
My thoughts exactly.
Just a fraternal hug, no love for the ladies? ;P Though I guess the women I know usually do not care what the market is doing.ouch....I'd say you know the the wrong women, :-) (please - I'm not trying to start a misogynistic side topic....and I think it depends on your social circle, in mine, the women pay more attention to the numbers, the men are blissfully ignorant)
The thing is, this is still relatively minor. I'm not sure we've even hit "correction" territory of 10% yet (think we're around 9% off the January high).The S&P entered into correction in February, then again earlier this week on April 2nd. The Dow and Nasdaq have also entered correction territory this year.
I'm down 3% from my portfolio high ($747k back in late Jan), and up $10k for the year (likely from contributions), largely because I dropped to a 50/50 portfolio back in January. Planning to keep some powder dry for a deep correction, when I'll go back to 60/40, or 75/25, depending. PE10 is still at 31+, which is twice the mean. Shit is still way overvalued and reversion to the mean is pretty immutable in markets. Some would call it market timing, but I call it asset preservation. The downside is much greater than the upside right now in this market, IMHO, so I'm content to stay 50/50 until a big move happens.
Wait, is something going on with the markets...?
My thoughts exactly.
I'm calling BS. You guys know exactly what is going on.
Just a fraternal hug, no love for the ladies? ;P Though I guess the women I know usually do not care what the market is doing.ouch....I'd say you know the the wrong women, :-) (please - I'm not trying to start a misogynistic side topic....and I think it depends on your social circle, in mine, the women pay more attention to the numbers, the men are blissfully ignorant)
Wait, is something going on with the markets...?
My thoughts exactly.
I'm calling BS. You guys know exactly what is going on.
Goodness! I know something is happening. But I rarely look at actual numbers in my accounts because I'm not withdrawing right now. And I tend to get news in very small and sporadic chunks via old-school newspaper outlets. I'm not a news junkie. Our family $ plan is almost completely automated in terms of paycheck deposits into accounts. But sure, if I have a scootch of money sitting around and you people really start screaming bloody murder (the post hug-it-out stage), I'll probably toss some bucks at Vanguard.
STOCKS ARE ON SALE!
Double hugs for those who dropped out of the double comma club.
If volatility is causing a severe emotional reaction and making you seriously question keeping the money in the market, your asset allocation may be too aggressive.
For some reason, the term “masochistic” came to mind when I read that some people have been checking MORE often. Why, just why?
I’ve found myself checking investment accounts less often. I do check my bank account more often waiting for my paychecks to go through (they don’t always get deposited on the same day each month) so I know when I can dump more money into investments.
In times like these, ignorance is bliss. :)
+2If volatility is causing a severe emotional reaction and making you seriously question keeping the money in the market, your asset allocation may be too aggressive.
+1
It will be interesting to see how many folks currently 100% stock are still there after the next 2008 financial crisis. I suspect that a great many people will not have the will to actually stick to their current plan.
Do you think a lot of baby boomers in their 60's are pulling out of the stock markets as they retire and go with a more conservative portfolio?
I think the last few months demonstrate just how short term people really think. People are caterwauling when really the market has only given up the gains of the last 5-6 months. I'm not saying I don't have concerns, what between picking trade fights, interest rates rising, etc. but many other metrics are good. Here's what the S&P has returned the last several years:Yep. Until this year we had a record number of trading sessions without a 1% dip. Extremely smooth sailing, and it seems to me a lot of people have come to expect that to continue, particularly those who haven't been investing longer than this bull market.
Dec. 31, 2017 21.83%
Dec. 31, 2016 11.96%
Dec. 31, 2015 1.38%
Dec. 31, 2014 13.69%
Dec. 31, 2013 32.39%
Dec. 31, 2012 16.00%
I just can't feel like my world is shaken up because we've been about flat YTD.
Um nope. You cannot know how long it will take the market to recover. Just stay put and focus on finding ways to save more during the perceived (or actual) downturn. Use the desire to stay at or above a certain benchmark to catapult yourself ahead as the market improves.I'm going to add that if you're part of one of those "race to..." threads and recent market activity means technically you don't "belong" there any more, DON'T move back to your old group! You got there before fair and square and your numbers will return again. Keep the faith, keep adding to your stache. Now is not the time to panic or punish yourself for something out of your control.
I hit my highest savings rate ever in 2008 and am FIRE now because of what happened when the market roared back.
Piling on to the group hug.
We've had this discussion on the Race to $250K thread, and I think the consensus was that if it's a small drop and you'll quickly work your way back to the minimum of the next bracket, then stay in the current bracket.
However, if it's a big drop that will take more than a few months to recover from, then most people said they would (begrudgingly) move down to the old bracket. I think most folks view the brackets as "what you have" versus "what you had."
I'm going to add that if you're part of one of those "race to..." threads and recent market activity means technically you don't "belong" there any more, DON'T move back to your old group! You got there before fair and square and your numbers will return again. Keep the faith, keep adding to your stache. Now is not the time to panic or punish yourself for something out of your control.
I hit my highest savings rate ever in 2008 and am FIRE now because of what happened when the market roared back.
Piling on to the group hug.
The market is about 10% off of all time highs, wheras the average bear market leads to about 30-40% declines.
Neither a 10% or 50% decline should cause you stress. Just develop a plan with safety nets and stick to it.
No one reading this will ever starve, so everything will work out in the end!
I mean, sure, I don't like watching my net worth decrease. But this isn't even a full correction yet (10% drop).A few posts before yours: