Dump it all into Stable Growth?

[Angio333]

I know I shouldn't be looking, but I did. My 457 plan is getting killed. I'm tempted to throw everything I have left in into the Stable Growth Fund, which gives you at least 4%-5% return per a year in growth. Right now, its my only thing not losing money.

I know I should just keep buying at a "discount" and wait for the market to rebound. However, it would have to be a HUGE rebound to make up the losses + inflation.

So, should I dump it all into Stable Growth or should I stay where I am at? It is well diversified and I have 20% going in the Stable Growth fund.

Thanks.

[tripods68]

Well it is good strategy if you don't think the market will rebound anytime soon or you no longer believe the funds you own will do well. You need read your funds prospectus. In the down market, "buy and hold" often is not a good strategy. But long term, "dollar cost average" is the best approach.

[GREENBACK]

I invest in a 457 as well. I gave some thought to those ideas also but have decided that I'll never reap the gains of a market recovery or recover my losses if I go real conservative. I've decided to hold on and let things play out. I realized I was one of those getting a little nervous and ready to bailout. This isn't something I thought I would ever feel. I'm staying with my strategy. They say fear and panic(when everyone starts selling out) is a good sign that things will start bouncing back. Hard to think that way now but hopefully years down the road we can look at this time period and smile.

[jIM_Ohio]

what will you do once you see market going up? Buy it? that would be sell low, buy high. Explain to me how that will make you money?

[Angio333]

I know what you mean. I'm just afraid it may take me a decade to make up for what we lost in the last year.

Did we ever see huge gains as quickly as we saw huge losses over the last year?

I'm probably going to stay where I'm at, but its hard once you see the losses.

I was holding out OK for awhile without losing or gaining, but now its a nose dive.

[noppenbd]

Did we ever see huge gains as quickly as we saw huge losses over the last year?

It's definitely possible. Look back at the 1974-75 recession. In October 1974 the S&P bottomed at 62. In a 1-week period the market bounced back 20% to 71. In the next 4 weeks the market gained another 6%. It then dropped 13% over a 4 week period, successfully testing the bottom. At that point the market jumped 30% over a 3 month period, and was up 40% by the end of 1975.

I would argue that in today's market volatility is likely to be even higher, so larger jumps are possible.

[yorkinvestmentreport]

How old are you? When do you need the money? If you have a longer term horizon it's probably not the best time to bail on the market. We are down 55% from the peak. Do you think the next 20% is more likely to the upside or downside? Not saying that we won't go back down if we get a big move up (this country has a lot of issues that will need to be addressed), but the short term move is more likely to the upside versus down

[Angio333]

I just turned 31.