Talking stocks, trading, and investing in general

[SkinnyGoomba]

I dont think this is a 1929 scenario unless it proves that most people are insanely leveraged, which I dont think is the case. People did seem the learn the lesson that excessive or outrageous debt is bad. If this proves to be a few months I think banks will delay payments and the gov will probably step in to foot a large amount of the bill.

I think the stock market will continue to over react, while painful it may not be a bad thing in that I think it has really forced the gov. into fast action. Nothing like huge amounts of money exiting the market to get everyone's attention.

At least in the early parts of 2009 it started to become clear as to what the path forward would be and that things would start to turn around. Even though the fallout was horrendous it did become clear at some point. No way to know here since the two events are not very comparable.

Perhaps we all need a breather from 24hr bad news cycle.

 

[jcman311]

 

[brokencycle]

On the plus side, my 401k contributions haven't gotten loaded for my last check yet and my 1 year return is still positive. On the downside, my YTD losses are almost an order of magnitude higher than my contributions.

 

[stimulacra]

My 1 year return is 3.8% lol.

YTD is -14%.

Just got my bonus last Friday and thank God the 401k contribution hasn't gone through yet.

On the flipside I did deposit a nice chunk into my daughter's 529 Plan on Friday 13th, womp womp.

Should have waited the weekend but whatever.

My priorities and strategy for 2020 is to stay employed at all costs and just hunker down and stay the course. 2023 will tell if that was the right course.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Almost all of my market gains are gone. Not playing with house money anymore.

 

[Omega Male]

Even if you hold a bunch of cash at the moment it may not seem prudent to invest in the stock market, even if the expected gains from current levels are much more attractive than they’ve been in some time. If you’re going through a personal financial crisis it doesn’t matter how attractive prices look.

Market crashes can be paralyzing on a number of fronts. Falling prices can cause people to make poor decisions in the face of market and emotional volatility. But sometimes even prudent investment decisions can feel like the wrong ones to make from a financial perspective.

You may have cash on the sidelines ready to take advantage of lower prices but it’s possible that money would be better served as a backstop to any potential career or personal disruptions from the coming economic crisis.

I’m not suggesting those sitting on cash should hoard their funds at the moment. But this shows why financial planning often trumps investment planning when it comes to putting money to work during a crash.

If you don’t have your personal finances shored up your dry powder may not be very useful when it comes to being greedy when others are fearful.

Why You Can't Always Swing at the Fat Pitch During a Crisis - A Wealth of Common Sense

CNBC reported last night that the biggest banks in the United States would be stopping their buybacks to shore up their balance sheets because of the crisis: The group — which includes JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and two other banks —...

awealthofcommonsense.com

 

[venividivicibj]

how are you guys only down 15% YTD? I'm down like 30

 

[gettoasty]

@Omega Male Good article, nice reminder

Was just speaking with my mom yesterday and trying to get her to understand her annual expenses. A third of her 401k is in MMF that should adequately help her ride through 3-5 years not including SS benefits and personal savings. And so that she doesn’t need to liquidate the other 2/3 of her retirement portfolio that is invested. She’s 69 this year and still working but that can all change in a few months. No mortgage or debt. She’s not at all investment savvy the least but through consistent savings and frugality she seems to be okay...I hope.

My 401k still shows YTD as of 12/31/2019, 27%! ???

 

[Omega Male]

Not great.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

how are you guys only down 15% YTD? I'm down like 30

I’m probably down around 30 also.

 

[UnFacconable]

how are you guys only down 15% YTD? I'm down like 30

Perhaps others aren't marking to market their illiquid assets. When you count SF shoe collections that can't be worn when you shelter in place, the losses will be massive.

 

[venividivicibj]

 

[jbarwick]

Down 22.6% YTD. We were at a similar $ amount in Q1 of 2019 so I'd assume we are getting close to the Dec. 2018 lows?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Yeah, I mean we've lost a lot in a short amount of time, but I've been waiting for a crash for what, 6 years? I'm just worried about the long drawn out economic hit of all of this after the dust clears.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

so there's this old **** in my department that was going to retire soon. I would be in line for this job, but he might not retire now...