Got brave enough to look at my 401K today--I cried.

[TLB]

Perspective...thanks Ammo.

[swampy]

I'm pretty well diversified (stocks, money funds, fixed income etc.) My broker moved most of my stock to money funds and fixed incomes several months ago) I gotta keep my Apple stock though. 'cause I'm still way up there (got in at $13@ years ago).

[hal]

swampy wrote:
I'm pretty well diversified (stocks, money funds, fixed income etc.) My broker moved most of my stock to money funds and fixed incomes several months ago) I gotta keep my Apple stock though. 'cause I'm still way up there (got in at $13@ years ago).

good broker! but you shoulda listened to him re apple

you could have bought back at this price and made a killing - easily enough to handle the profit tax.

[mattkime]

swampy wrote:
My broker moved most of my stock to money funds and fixed incomes several months ago)

thats a good way to ensure that you don't benefit from the rebound either.

[AlphaDog]

Just be glad your investment portfolio is not yet supposed to be supplementing your retirement income so you can buy food. I feel very badly for those who are going to be forced to take a withdrawal with the market in this condition. Fortunately, I can get by without doing that for a while, but that sure wasn't "The Plan." Just remember that things could be worse, although I know for a fact that I don't want to see what "worse" might look like.

[hal]

mattkime wrote:
[quote=swampy]
My broker moved most of my stock to money funds and fixed incomes several months ago)

thats a good way to ensure that you don't benefit from the rebound either.
not at all, once the market is clearly in up mode, the broker will get back in and will have saved swampy a ton of money.

get the guy a nice xmas gift

[mattkime]

hal wrote: not at all, once the market is clearly in up mode, the broker will get back in and will have saved swampy a ton of money.

i'm trying to figure out if thats a joke or if you're serious.

[hal]

serious - there is such a thing as 'trends'

maybe you noticed, we're in a down trend period - there are ways of measuring trends and calculating risk. Stock market isn't just a game of craps. It's more like blackjack - stick to the percentages and you will do well.

To me, buy and hold for ever is like playing poker, but never folding a crappy hand.

[Lee3]

I find it hard to understand how you are down 48% since January. Unless you were all in China or all in Financials.

[mattkime]

>>maybe you noticed, we're in a down trend period

i've done a lot of reading about the stock market lately and all of it says that you can't predict the future by looking at the past. managed funds rarely bring a better return than an index fund after expenses are considered. finally, yes, some fund managers will beat the stock market but they're simply winners of a statistical lotto and it doesn't prove they'll do as well in the future.

in summary, the fact that we've been in a downward trend gives us zero information on what the future will hold.

>>To me, buy and hold for ever is like playing poker, but never folding a crappy hand.

warren buffet would disagree.

if you want to move a bit of money around now and then, do it with a small amount of your investment money so you don't harm your long term goals.