Dont bail, keep thinking half of people are selling and there are half that are buying. There is two sides to the equation.

Not selling and planning to buy when it looks like certain stocks have hit the bottom on this swing.

I learned WAY too late in life (57 now) that the world doesn't come to an end in hard times. I'm probably getting BACK into the market, on a dollar cost averaging basis. Actually during the last downturn I got a NICE 5000 industrial building for $100k. They are going for $300k and up. 10,000ft buildings are around a million now. Secretly hoping for a slowdown since everything I own is paid for; house, building, vehicles, etc.We all knew this was coming.

It's not looking good for us guys that are ready to retire...

yep, that's the tough spot. the people that are about to retire and watching their investments plunge. sure all the value will come back by staying in (not selling and locking in those losses)...but it might take a few years.

last year i was happy with my return in my 401k and i rebalanced heavily in bonds, missed on some earnings since but all that has been retracted now. waiting for the bottom and then everything back into the aggressive funds...probably bump my contributions up significantly too.

I just got done moving some things around,hopefully for the better...This virus scare reminds me of the show on tv a while back..."The last ship" Where is the USS Nathan James?

The term 'scare' seems to be the operative word. I know a couple of MD's and they indicate that this is WAY overblown. Just the fact that the number of people that are infected with common flu and have died from it versus the number with this latest virus..not even close. For that matter, it is estimated that 280K+ die in the US EVERY YEAR from obesity. So, order up those Whoppers for lunch.

the reason the markets are falling is not because of how deadly the virus is, but because it is so contagious and it is spreading all over the world and completely disrupting normalities. spending is going to retract (businesses worldwide have already stopped flying people for events), people are going cancel vacations, people won't want to fly, they will quit going out as much...consumer spending is going to drop.
also, china was basically idle for what? a few months? production worldwide is going to fall, this could be a worldwide recession.

Anyone scared about the stock market dip should take this advice, if not stand pat. Famous last words, of course.

Fear sells newspapers and generates clicks, that is all...

all going to die

I sold all my stocks on Wednesday and my mutual funds on Thursday. I look at it as profit-taking while the profit is still there. Sure I gave up something by not selling at the exact peak. But that's usually not possible. I don't normally try to time the market, that's pretty difficult to do. I'm in it for long-term appreciation, and dividends. I use dollar cost averaging which to some extent takes advantage of the corrections that are bound to happen. But this dip scares me. I want to be safe against getting wiped out if this is the big one. I'm old now, I don't have 10 or 20 years to recover.

I bought 1000 shares of SDRL at .94 this morning and it’s at 1.07 now. I should sell and buy some New Balance tennis shoes.

I am not in stock market. I have excellent retirement, some cash, and recently put money in a CD since the rates rebounded a little. I have a pretty good chunk at 2.85% which is pretty good compared compared to about five years ago. I'm playing it safe.

However, I have to agree with others; considering the main cause of the dip in the market, I would NOT be considering bailing now. First, I would expect it to bottom out very soon, and second, I would expect a rebound very soon.

The SP 500 is still over 2900 it was just overbought and will probably be over 3000 at the end of the year. A 10-15 % correction isn't uncommon it's just now since the point loss is high people get scared and the percentage isn't terrible. I put in low limit orders in that hit this week so I ended up buying $45,000 more @ sale prices and still have some too low that might not ever get filled. Kinda like low balling a car dealer bid low and see if they get desperate enough to sell. Limit orders can be good for 60 days It doesn't cost anything if your price is too low to buy (no sale) but if you get it at a price you're willing to pay great. Look at the move today you can't time that. They're not going to let this market crash in an election year.

History shows if you sell by the time you feel safe enough to buy again you will be buying it higher than you sold it for.

Mike

October 2018 was bad, I lost approximately 117,000 in my 401k. By March I was back up and then some. I know it's been a rapid decline, but stay the course. I'm sorry for those who will retire soon are taking a beating, but you should stay in for the long haul.

I moved 75% of my 401K holdings into a stable value fund today, but will continue to buy along with a company match. I'll be back in when all of this overblown hype is over with. 2019 was my best year ever.

How much did that move cost you. Damn.

My small orchard of apples went down many MANY cHeEzY burghers ...