That is why one has to be diversified. It is one thing be all in on an electric company that you work for. But to be all in on a consumer goods company (technology company), is risky the longer it goes. Technology evolved and they didn’t. If that person bought even half of their retirement in the S&P500, they would have been way way ahead.



A side note for anyone that cares to read. This is an article written by one of the Diamond Princess cruise passengers that contracted the virus.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/28/i-have-coronavirus-so-far-it-isnt-that-bad/

Sounds like your doing whats smart for you in your situation. Its true, not everyone wins. Ive some family members way up in age, and they dumped some, cant blame them.

My comment about the foot was only because ive heard that before and recall the day as a child my dad dropped a knife and it stuck in the top of his foot and when he pulled it out, ect.

I completed the transactions just before closing on Friday, so I captured those gains also. It's still a paper loss for me too, because I can move my holdings back into the previous funds when this panic nonsense stops. The only real loss would be if the market rises above what I sold at on Friday. It's a gamble that I'm willing to take and I'm actually protecting the 22% gains of last year while risking the approximate 10% gains for the first two months of this year.

If your time frame is super short. I can see taking money out. However if you are 3-5-7 years or more out. Talking with a broker about buying downside protection (leaps/puts), could have helped calm the nerves. You could have protected your core holding against any big move down.

The crash of the financial sector, Investment firm bankruptcies......bad times.

I do the same thing as you with my money, same age, can't take a big loss, I rode it down after 9-11, never again. I noticed all the pro investors sold back then while going on tv telling everyone to stay, even the president at the time said, it will all be fine, it was not. In my defense the market was closed and I couldn't trade, pros cleaned our clocks. I sell now lose some profit but can always rebuy at least a little lower. I try to buy big name dividend paying stocks. After the 2008 crash I quadrupled my money, sold the day I knew the political party was changing, bought at 6666, it went down more. The batch of 10 stocks I had at 9-11 did finally get back to even, but is down about 30% now, I track it just to know I did the right thing. My iras are in managed accounts, and I have gotten 30 alerts this week of them selling and rebuying, so it appears bailing is the right thing to do. The pro runs the market, you will never beat them head to head, but with cash and proper timing, you can get a good piece of the action. That is the only thing that works for me. It is hard not to go after tbe latest whiz-bang stock, but you learn. My plan to buy amazon, apple, facebook, samsung is only based on the fact everyone is hooked on that stuff, hard to lose if you buy near the bottom, like within 1000-2000 points, and I need the diversity.

In my opinion the 2008 crash was caused by a lot of things, but the main thing in the end was the change from a pro business administration to an administration that promised to go after business, and was negative towards them. That is when it really went down the drain. I can tell you the exact day I sold, why, and what was said, but politics are not allowed here. It may be happening again this year, I am for the most part in cash right now, and may stay that way until I am sure who is going to win.

Then there is the IRS... Don't forget the IRS. They will not forget about you and your money.
Say you have $1,000,000 in your IRA. You panic and decide to cash it out. You will write a check to the IRS for $350,000 or more depending on your income bracket...

Most 401k and Traditional IRA's you can move money around inside the account but not take it out.

Roth accounts have a bit different rules but there may be limits.

Some financial firms have Money Market accounts where you can sell off Mutual Funds shares and put them in the ultra conservative MM fund as a holding. They do gain and loose a small amount but not as volatile as the main stream Mutual Funds. But this may effect your dividend payouts.

Yes the IRS...that is why our iras are managed, I can't pull them out without tax issues, and by the time I could figure out what to do it is too late. They have done alright and they have been actively moving them around inside their portfolio this week so we will see. I fully fund them jan 1 every year, but waited this year for some reason, just a bad feeling so that may work out too, have to fund by april 15, need the tax write off.

I'll bet if Warren Buffett isn't on a stock shopping spree, he will be shortly.

Kevin

Yes. A month ago he had his biggest cash hoard ever waiting to buy
“a good company with excellent management already in place”
when their stock Price dropped to bargain levels.

I kinda expect him to buy an east coast railroad to make BN into a truly national line.

Attempted to move my stash from aggressive growth to a money market Thursday evening when year to date was only down .4%.
I knew Friday’s losses were coming so now it’s only down 5% ytd.
Bad news is the highly rated company has not posted the trade and I’m assuming free fall again on Monday. Hopefully they post the trade before the market opens then. The plan is to jump back aggressive towards the bottom!
TY
Red

The money was never taxed so yes you have to pay taxes for n it when you withdraw it. Plus don’t forget the extra 10% if you are under 59 years of age. But there are a few ways to work around that part.

Yes I understand the no tax on the ira going in, I am not a big fan of them mainly because congress can change the taxation rules on them at any time. But, it is just part of a plan. For most people it is a forced savings plan, so kinda good in that respect. I guess when I am 70 we will know what worked best. I am not telling anyone what to do but sell and rebuy the same good old dividend paying stocks has been the best for me. I am pretty much thinking be in cash for elections now, at least at my age. I used to believe the buy and hold forever bs but feel the market has changed too much with electronic trading for that to work. I also feel the buy and hold advice is only given to get you to leave your money on the table while the pro takes it, but thats just me, I could be wrong and often. Happy trading.

Not meaning to kick a guy when he is down but not diversifying OR not buying companies that are diversified can be dangerous. Think BlackBerry. A diversified portfolio can withstand a lot of blows but there is no denying that a major correction would not be good. My grandfather was caught in the crash of 1929 and lost all of his investments. That's why my mother and her two sisters never went to college. I think it is interesting that according to Wikipedia, the '29 stock market crash lost the equivalent of $396 billion today. Business Insider claims the current drop erased $6 trillion in wealth. Amazing how the market has grown ASSUMING that all figures are accurate.

Tell us the exact day, we can draw our conclusions.

Never put all your eggs in one basket. Meaning never have more than 10% of your money in any one stock. The SP 500 is right now just 2% over it's Jan. 2018 high. The 20% profit people have is only if they invested that money after the 20% Dec. 2018 fall any money invested before that correction is 2% or less return. Jan.2019 was 20% lower than the 2018 high.

2018 high 2930 2019 open 2510 low 2447 high 3240 2020 low 2954 So it just comes down to when you invested.



https://www.macrotrends.net/2526/sp-500-historical-annual-returns

After numerous large market declines,
what happened 1, 3 and 5 years later

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/o...ggests-this-approach-pays-off-2020-03-01

Oct 13 2008

He has been purchasing a large amount of stock for awhile not surprisingly his own BRKB