I have been investing quarterly for about as long as you. I have invested three times since the virus crash, but now I'll go back to my quarterly plan. I may not even do that, because one of my money sources is Exxon Mobil dividends, and I suspect that this quarter the payout will be sharply reduced. We shall see. I agree with you on timing the market, though.
Altria (MO), Phillip Morris’ US tobacco stock was $31 on 3/23. It closed at $43 today. 33% in less than three months... Patrick
Funny to go back and read the early responses. Warren Buffet never tries to time the market so Why would you? Pretty sure he has a few dollars laying around
One thing for sure, the market isn't necessarily tied to reality. Like somebody said the other day, Saks is surrounded by razor wire, but the dow is up 500...
Time in the market vs timing the market. Almost the same words, drastically different strategies. Timing the markets is a sucker’s game.
I agree that trying to game it is very difficult and risky, but when the whole market drops due to something that will pass, it’s very dumb to panic and sell versus riding it out. When solid stocks drop in price because of the event not bad business (Coke, Altria, Home Depot, etc) they represent an opportunity to buy at a discount. That’s not timing, just smart buying.People aren’t going to quit smoking, drinking or buying 2x4s forever. Patrick
Buying specific stocks is one thing but when it’s your 401k and all you can choose from are funds comprised of a bunch of different stocks it’s a different story. The market as a whole makes absolutely no sense right now. Unemployment is through the roof. Many many companies will not survive. The national debt is through the roof. Entertainment is at a standstill. It’s pure insanity. I moved all of my 401k to bonds and am holding steady. I did this at the end of March. I refuse to get back into the market until the presidential election is over and we have a vaccine. At this point in my life I need to preserve capitol. Cliff
Even Jim Cramer is alarmed by the Shenanigans going on in the market right now, It's fully manipulated by fake printed money and the ups and downs are akin to a roulette game. The Dow (if real) would be below 10,000 by now. People that claim to know when to buy and when to sell must have trillions of dollars stacked up.
Mar 23 - Dow 18,591 - June 11 Dow 25,906. Still looking good, typical pull back. Just wait until we see what happens with the pandemic.
Up two plus percent for the YTD. Kind of shocked but . That Mad Money Jim Cramer guy is losing his mind. He thinks investors should be more bearish.
We did some buying while it was around 20,000 but, held everything else. Now, we're just about back to where we were in February before the marked tanked down to 18,000. The only selling we did was entertainment and airline stocks because I figure they will take a long time to recover, if ever. But, since we are in retirement we only buy stocks that produce good income no matter what their selling for. When I look at our expected dividend income for this year, it's only down about 4% from what it was at the end of 2019. But our mix of equities to fixed income holdings is 65% fixed to 35% equities so, we're not affected as bad if the market tanks as long as the companies don't fold up and die.
With everything in the world upside down trying to predict the market is impossible. Its amazing to me how with all the crap going on the market is doing well at all which I am OK with. That said, everyone has a different risk tolerance level and anyone can win or lose at anytime. If the experts are incorrect on a regular basis you will only stress yourself out trying to predict the unpredictable. Risk vs. rewards, be balanced to be safe and limit loss!!
Well, I’m glad I took my advice and went with my gut feeling and invested back when the market was under 20,000.
Yes! I had a 25 percent cash position that I created 18 months back in a large, diversified IRA fund to which I was no longer contributing (I was basically shorting the market knowing there would eventually be a significant drop - you can pretty much bet on one per decade). Right near the bottom of this big drop I bought back in generally in the ratios of all equity and bond mutual funds I already had. It's been a very profitable year. Otherwise, in a couple of 401 and 457 funds we stayed the course and kept dollar cost averaging - I actually boosted one such contribution close to maximum because the tax code very much encourages such behavior, and both my rugrats graduated college, which is gonna nail me in taxes otherwise. Luck favors the well prepared.
