How's your 401

Manonthestreet

Diamond Member
May 20, 2014
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At the start of latest crash I lost over 10% week 1, week 2 was about even and week 3 was greater than 10%. At that point I felt locked in and let it ride. Adjusted where new contributions were going to large cap and cash and later to all cash. Minus new contributions I'm up 5% over pre-crash, starting to look at pulling more money out the mutual funds and parking it in cash. Small cap was hit the hardest and is not back to starting point but getting close and thats where I think I'm going to start drawing down first.
 
At the start of latest crash I lost over 10% week 1, week 2 was about even and week 3 was greater than 10%. At that point I felt locked in and let it ride. Adjusted where new contributions were going to large cap and cash and later to all cash. Minus new contributions I'm up 5% over pre-crash, starting to look at pulling more money out the mutual funds and parking it in cash. Small cap was hit the hardest and is not back to starting point but getting close and thats where I think I'm going to start drawing down first.

I took about a 25% hit at the worst but most of it has recovered. Was down less than 3% on the year the last time I looked last week as it has been growing month over month since hitting the floor.
 
At the start of latest crash I lost over 10% week 1, week 2 was about even and week 3 was greater than 10%. At that point I felt locked in and let it ride. Adjusted where new contributions were going to large cap and cash and later to all cash. Minus new contributions I'm up 5% over pre-crash, starting to look at pulling more money out the mutual funds and parking it in cash. Small cap was hit the hardest and is not back to starting point but getting close and thats where I think I'm going to start drawing down first.
Mine has been in more secure but slower growth and I do not look at it weekly. It has increased. My wife's has not changed out of the mix that she had upon retirement two years ago. Since January, she has had significant positive return on here investments. in the 11 to 13% range. We will let it ride and just keep check through the quarterly reports.
 
I'm only in my mid 40's, and you can work in my field as long as you keep your wits about you. Still 85% stock, 15% bonds.
 
At the start of latest crash I lost over 10% week 1, week 2 was about even and week 3 was greater than 10%. At that point I felt locked in and let it ride. Adjusted where new contributions were going to large cap and cash and later to all cash. Minus new contributions I'm up 5% over pre-crash, starting to look at pulling more money out the mutual funds and parking it in cash. Small cap was hit the hardest and is not back to starting point but getting close and thats where I think I'm going to start drawing down first.
/——/ Smart planning. I was down 50% but half in cash. I bought ETFs like TNA at $10 that was formally $70. Now it’s back to $30.
I’m still underwater and I sold some stocks that recovered to my purchase price and parked the $$$ in cash. I make weekly $$$ selling covered calls.
My plan is to be fully recovered and 90% in cask before the election. I’ll buy the inverse TZA as insurance in case there is another crash if Dementia Joe wins.
 
When I retired last year I went full wimpy. 92% cash 8% stock. So I'm up a little this year maybe 3% overall. Still have the DRIPs.
/—-/ Being 92% cash isn’t wimpy, it’s smart, especially in this market. Stay 90% cash until the election, buy some TZA as a way to make money if the market ranks. It’s a bear ETF. Remember CASH is king.
 
When I retired last year I went full wimpy. 92% cash 8% stock. So I'm up a little this year maybe 3% overall. Still have the DRIPs.

I can relate. When I retired 3 years ago I went 83% cash and 17% equities when I moved my 401K to a Rollover IRA.

Back in March when my equities were down 22% I transferred that portion of my Rollover IRA to a Roth IRA. It dropped just a bit more after the transfer but then more than made up for the total loss by a wee bit. If I understand the tax ramifications, the amount I transferred from the Rollover to Roth when the market was down will be considered taxable income for this year while the subsequent rebound in my Roth will be tax free.

Having pressed my luck I moved mostly to cash last week and plan to start reinvesting in January on a Dollar Cost Averaging basis.
 
Small cap was hit the hardest and is not back to starting point but getting close and thats where I think I'm going to start drawing down first.
There's a serious and pernicious economic problem called capital deepening at play here, especially with the mid- to large-cap stocks and "blue chips" you are left with if you avoid the small caps, which are often perceived as riskier and more volatile.
Companies get too big, and incur too many sunk costs that sit on their books as assets, although the costs cannot be recovered.
Companies that have incurred capital deepening and sunk costs become too established, too set in their ways, and too resistant to change to compete effectively with more innovative competitors.

It's even more serious than that however: in a very real sense of serious organized crime, the bosses are "in too deep" in certain established but highly secretive ways of doing business.
 
BAck to hitting new highs every week, and not by a little, so much so that all new money going into cash hasnt put a dent in the ratio of risky to safe investments.
 
BAck to hitting new highs every week, and not by a little, so much so that all new money going into cash hasnt put a dent in the ratio of risky to safe investments.
At new highs, it's time for serious investors to re-assess the fundamentals of the companies underlying their investment funds, and re-adjust their asset allocations for an appropriate balance between locking in realized market gains to safer investments and being positioned to possibly capitalize on further growth in the riskier markets.
 
I don’t have one, so mine is perfectly fine. Hasn’t lost a penny of its value over time. I prefer to invest in physical capital.... guns, ammunition, food, survival supplies, training, etc... there’s a far greater guaranteed return in those.
 
I prefer to invest in physical capital.... guns, ammunition, food, survival supplies, training, etc.
That's pretty much what any actual underlying business needs to invest in to make a profit and survive.
there’s a far greater guaranteed return in those
True, in a sense. You are guaranteed to fail if you do not have some of those things. I don't know if there are any "positive" guarantees in life as such.

You also need to invest somehow in the real estate you need to store and protect all those physical needs and supplies.

There are of course various real estate investment trusts and funds on the market, but they are obviously not as useful for your own survival as having your own place.

I say this because there are altogether too many apartments and various overpriced living arrangements in big cities that do not really allow adult citizens to have their own space.
 
True, in a sense. You are guaranteed to fail if you do not have some of those things. I don't know if there are any "positive" guarantees in life as such.

You also need to invest somehow in the real estate you need to store and protect all those physical needs and supplies.

There are of course various real estate investment trusts and funds on the market, but they are obviously not as useful for your own survival as having your own place.

I say this because there are altogether too many apartments and various overpriced living arrangements in big cities that do not really allow adult citizens to have their own space.

I have a home for my family, and a shared rural property with the few I truly trust, in case things go to Hell.
 
Was down 9% at beginning of Corona Crash. By mid-Sept was up 42%. Went to 85% cash from 90% Stock. sitting on cash until sometime after the election. I might even sit on it until the spring if the election shit has shaken out by then.
 
Was down 9% at beginning of Corona Crash. By mid-Sept was up 42%. Went to 85% cash from 90% Stock. sitting on cash until sometime after the election. I might even sit on it until the spring if the election shit has shaken out by then.
/——-/ Me too, except I don’t want to sell my APPL. I’m 80% cash.
 
Was down 9% at beginning of Corona Crash. By mid-Sept was up 42%. Went to 85% cash from 90% Stock. sitting on cash until sometime after the election. I might even sit on it until the spring if the election shit has shaken out by then.
/——-/ Me too, except I don’t want to sell my APPL. I’m 80% cash.
Yeah. Appl is one of my "problems". I own that stock in my brokerage account and I bought it about 8 years ago. I can only sell so much per year without taking a big hit on capital gains (cost basis of $18.50 a share) so I can't go to cash in my brokerage account right now. Two more years and it will be sold off. I'm betting I'll just buy more in my other accounts.
 
If you're 25-30 stay in and buy stocks while they're cheap.

If you're 40-50 stay in but stay as liquid as possible.

If you're 60+ and you stayed in when the virus scare started you might as well stay in. By not getting out immediately you demonstrated you can't be trusted to have more than pocket change. You'd only hurt yourself.
 

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