Lost $53K in the market downturn

[Scallywag]

And sold everything an hour ago. While I understand that panic selling is not at all a "financial strategy", given my life situation (in my middle age, renting, have a severely disabled child to likely have to provide for a life time etc) this seemed like the only thing to do to stop the bleeding.

I just about had enough, so I bailed. I needed to calm down and rethink this. My spouse is beyond pissed but I had to pull the trigger.

Maybe I will jump back in after March 2019, but I am so done for now.

[james.hendrickson]

Actually wouldn't this be a great time to buy more stock?

[Scallywag]

Not for me, not at this time. I want to be cash for now even if I miss some good opportunities. Over 50K is a lot of money for someone like me to lose (not that it is ok for anyone to lose !) so I just want to stay cash for the immediate future (until March 2019).

[disneysteve]

Sell low, buy high. That's the motto of the average "investor". Get out after the crash, stay on the sidelines throughout the recovery and miss it entirely, and then jump back in after prices are back up even higher than they were before the correction.

Fortunately, I'm still young enough (54) that we have time to ride out another cycle. I'm not planning to retire for 8 years or so. And even in retirement, I intend to keep at least 50% of our portfolio in the market. I did rebalance earlier this year to change our allocation from 80-20 to 70-30 so our stock exposure isn't quite as high as it had been. Still, the past week has been rough. I haven't looked at the actual numbers but I'm sure our portfolio has probably dropped 50K or more also. I'm not selling or buying because of current market performance. I'm just continuing to do the same thing I always do. My 401k contributions remain the same. Our taxable investing remains the same. And I am 100% sure the market will recover.

[disneysteve]

What's the significance of March 2019?

[myrdale]

It's a roller coaster. It goes up and down, as long as you don't jump off, you won't get hurt.

I don't know if it is proper to say you "lost" it. You still owned the stocks, they had just decreased in value. Now if they go back up and you're not in the market, they you would have lost it.

If you could time the market to sale high and buy low, it would be ideal, no one has a crystal ball.

[alliecat79]

I have increased my contributions to my 403b because stocks are on sale! I will own more shares as a result so when the market swings back up, my portfolio will too! But I've got another 20 years or so until my retirement.

[Scallywag]

Sell low, buy high. That's the motto of the average "investor". Get out after the crash, stay on the sidelines throughout the recovery and miss it entirely, and then jump back in after prices are back up even higher than they were before the correction.

.

I know what I did may seem stooooopid to many savvy investors but I just couldn't take the anxiety anymore. I am younger thsn you so maybe it won't matter in the long run but I just had to bail for now.

[corn18]

It’s not stupid, it is a result of taking risk you could or should not take.

[Jluke]

And sold everything an hour ago. While I understand that panic selling is not at all a "financial strategy", given my life situation (in my middle age, renting, have a severely disabled child to likely have to provide for a life time etc) this seemed like the only thing to do to stop the bleeding.

I just about had enough, so I bailed. I needed to calm down and rethink this. My spouse is beyond pissed but I had to pull the trigger.

Maybe I will jump back in after March 2019, but I am so done for now.

You really didn’t “lose” anything.

The so called gains weren’t yours until you claimed them.

Sucks. I am down close to 100k with all of this mess

[corn18]

I'm down close to $240k but most of that is RSU's that vest next year.

[Scallywag]

Yes. I do realize that stocks are really low and today was probably the worst day to sell it all but in my defense I wanted to bail in October and didn't

I am a buy and hold investor and even during the 2008 collapse I stayed on in the market and, yes, I did see a profit even if I technically made 53K less than I would have seen had I sold in October. The difference is that I did not have a disabled child until 2011. I just couldn't take the emotional stress even though the logical part of my brain says we have 20+ years to see this through.

I might repurchase some shares on Monday morning. We'll see. I am too overwhelmed and afraid to think straight and for a little fish like me 53K is mucho moolah to lose. I am just going to let my hair down, put my feet up and have some wine tonight and forget this fiasco.

My question is - how are the rest of you able to handle the crash ? Do you not feel any fear at all over all this uncertainty ?

[TexasHusker]

Actually wouldn't this be a great time to buy more stock?

Using the "what goes down must go right back up" assumption? The market has been overbought for 2 years. "Stocks are low" is a very relative term. There's a lot of excess air still in the tire.

[TexasHusker]

Yes. I do realize that stocks are really low and today was probably the worst day to sell it all but in my defense I wanted to bail in October and didn't

I am a buy and hold investor and even during the 2008 collapse I stayed on in the market and, yes, I did see a profit even if I technically made 53K less than I would have seen had I sold in October. The difference is that I did not have a disabled child until 2011. I just couldn't take the emotional stress even though the logical part of my brain says we have 20+ years to see this through.

I might repurchase some shares on Monday morning. We'll see. I am too overwhelmed and afraid to think straight and for a little fish like me 53K is mucho moolah to lose. I am just going to let my hair down, put my feet up and have some wine tonight and forget this fiasco.

My question is - how are the rest of you able to handle the crash ? Do you not feel any fear at all over all this uncertainty ?

Number one, stocks are not "low". Lower than yesterday? Yes.

Number two, this isn't a crash. It's not even a correction just yet. If you think this is a crash, you shouldn't be in the market at all. Every time there is a true correction and bear market, there is a whole new round of folks who bail out and swear off the market forever. I did so a few corrections back and never been happier.

Long term investing and "buy and hold" sound like really good concepts while the market is in a bull. But in a bull, there's essentially no news that makes the market go down. In a bear market, there's virtually no news that will help it go up. If you have a $100K nest egg that dips below $50K, even though "the market" has only corrected 20%, your diarrhea factor will be cranked up big time.

[james.hendrickson]

Using the "what goes down must go right back up" assumption? The market has been overbought for 2 years. "Stocks are low" is a very relative term. There's a lot of excess air still in the tire.

Yeah, basically...reversion to the mean.

From investopedia.

Mean reversion is financial theory suggesting that asset prices and returns eventually return back to the long-run mean or average of the entire dataset. This mean or average can be the historical average of the price or return, or another relevant average such as the growth in the economy or the average return of an industry.

Numerous long term studies of stock markets have shown that the average long term bias of equities markets is upwards. What varies are viewpoints about why and how much upward bias there is.