So, how's everyone's 401K doing?

[AmpedSilence]

401k(1) - -16%
401k(2) - -20%
IRA - -42%
trading account - -60%

Not doing so well right now...

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: StormRider

Ummm, because years from now everything will turn out okay and we'll sit back and laugh at how we thought the world was ending back then?

I'm already laughing at the people who think that the world is ending.

 

[evident]

-41%

 

[Scouzer]

Up 3.5%

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence
401k(1) - -16%
401k(2) - -20%
IRA - -42%
trading account - -60%

Not doing so well right now...

Wow must suck to be you and be down 138%...

 

[AmpedSilence]

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence
401k(1) - -16%
401k(2) - -20%
IRA - -42%
trading account - -60%

Not doing so well right now...

Wow must suck to be you and be down 138%...

now you see why i was complaining yesterday about NetFlix charging an extra dollar!

 

[randay]

mines been renamed to -48.8k

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence
401k(1) - -16%
401k(2) - -20%
IRA - -42%
trading account - -60%

Not doing so well right now...

Wow must suck to be you and be down 138%...

now you see why i was complaining yesterday about NetFlix charging an extra dollar!

THOSE SOCIALIST BASTARDS!!!

 

[SSSnail]

Assuming most of us have at least 20 more years til retirement, we should be alright. My condolences to those nearing retirement. I wish I had a crystal ball and moved everything to stable options a year ago, and move everything back these days, I'd have gained ~40% instead of losing. Now I know why I'm not in finance, but then again not many people are good enough even they're working in the industry, well except for Warren Buffet.

 

[rpanic]

+1.9% YTD moved all of mine into money market mutual fund when DOW was 13500, was kicking my self when it started going back up to 14000 but glad now.

 

[dullard]

I have a simple IRA (similar to a 401k). It is down nearly 28% for the year. I won't sell it for 30-40 years, so in reality I lost nothing and it was just a temporary paper loss. Technically, I may soon roll it over to another company and rebalance. But that is basically selling/buying the same stocks so it doesn't count as selling at a low.

My IRA which I started this year with a paltry $4k (the amount allowed for tax purposes) is down 30%. On paper I lost roughly $1000 on that one, but I won't sell it for 30-40 years, so in reality I lost nothing and it was just a temporary paper loss.

I did, however, dump an EXTRA $12k into my mortgage so far this year. It is up the guaranteed 5.5% annual return since you normally can't lose by investing in your debt. True, I'm only up $200 so far, but that is a real gain. I guess if you count the forced monthly principal payments, I've put in nearly $13k and I'm up nearly $225.

From this month on (as long as the stock market is low), I have stopped adding my extra cash to my mortgage and will buy stocks instead.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: dullard
I have a simple IRA (similar to a 401k). It is down nearly 28% for the year. I won't sell it for 30-40 years, so in reality I lost nothing and it was just a temporary paper loss.

My IRA which I started this year with a paltry $4k (the amount allowed for tax purposes) is down 30%. On paper I lost roughly $1000 on that one, but I won't sell it for 30-40 years, so in reality I lost nothing and it was just a temporary paper loss. . . .

From this month on (as long as the stock market is low), I have stopped adding my extra cash to my mortgage and will by stocks instead.

:thumbsup: I just send a check off to my brokerage to make some stock index mutual fund / ETF purchases.

"Buy low, sell high."

 

[crystal]

over 28%

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: StormRider
Hopefully someday, we'll all look back to this day and laugh about it....

Why would we laugh? If you have a reoccurring investment, then having the market drop a significant amount would be a good thing assuming that you are not near retirement.

How is this a hard concept for guys, who are all in the 99th percentile of smartness, to grasp?

Tell that to people invested in Lehman stock.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: StormRider
Hopefully someday, we'll all look back to this day and laugh about it....

Why would we laugh? If you have a reoccurring investment, then having the market drop a significant amount would be a good thing assuming that you are not near retirement.

How is this a hard concept for guys, who are all in the 99th percentile of smartness, to grasp?

Tell that to people invested in Lehman stock.

Then laugh at them for stock-picking instead of buying index mutual funds or ETFs.

"Laugh hard, it's a long way to the bank"

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: StormRider
Hopefully someday, we'll all look back to this day and laugh about it....

Why would we laugh? If you have a reoccurring investment, then having the market drop a significant amount would be a good thing assuming that you are not near retirement.

How is this a hard concept for guys, who are all in the 99th percentile of smartness, to grasp?

Tell that to people invested in Lehman stock.

Then laugh at them for stock-picking instead of buying index mutual funds or ETFs.

"Laugh hard, it's a long way to the bank"

What about those funds that had Lehman stocks? Are the rest of the assets going to magically make up for that vanishing wealth? If your fund is down 20% and it had 15% or so of Lehman stock, (pulling numbers outta my ass) than the idea that you are going to get that full 20% back is foolhardy, its pretty much gone.

 

[dullard]

Is it time for us to all edit our posts? Down another ~7% today. Anyone saying they were down 30% this morning are probably now down 35%-40%.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: StormRider
Hopefully someday, we'll all look back to this day and laugh about it....

Why would we laugh? If you have a reoccurring investment, then having the market drop a significant amount would be a good thing assuming that you are not near retirement.

How is this a hard concept for guys, who are all in the 99th percentile of smartness, to grasp?

Tell that to people invested in Lehman stock.

Then laugh at them for stock-picking instead of buying index mutual funds or ETFs.

"Laugh hard, it's a long way to the bank"

What about those funds that had Lehman stocks? Are the rest of the assets going to magically make up for that vanishing wealth? If your fund is down 20% and it had 15% or so of Lehman stock, (pulling numbers outta my ass) than the idea that you are going to get that full 20% back is foolhardy, its pretty much gone.

Yes they will, with something like an S&P 500 index fund. Possibly even with a more narrow sector fund.

With the S&P 500 some of the 500 companies will do very well, some will muddle along and a few will tank. Over time it's beaten most stock-pickers including the full-time professionals. It's betting on the house at Vegas, vs. picking red 17.

 

[CrackRabbit]

+/- 0% apparently I made a mistake when I started contributing to my 401k and chose not to invest the money.
It's turning out that the mistake may of been a good thing.

 

[Kelvrick]

-19.5%.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
+/- 0% apparently I made a mistake when I started contributing to my 401k and chose not to invest the money.
It's turning out that the mistake may of been a good thing.

Now is a good time to fix that, stock prices are back to last century from everyone panic-selling.

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: StormRider
Hopefully someday, we'll all look back to this day and laugh about it....

Why would we laugh? If you have a reoccurring investment, then having the market drop a significant amount would be a good thing assuming that you are not near retirement.

How is this a hard concept for guys, who are all in the 99th percentile of smartness, to grasp?

Tell that to people invested in Lehman stock.

Then laugh at them for stock-picking instead of buying index mutual funds or ETFs.

"Laugh hard, it's a long way to the bank"

What about those funds that had Lehman stocks? Are the rest of the assets going to magically make up for that vanishing wealth? If your fund is down 20% and it had 15% or so of Lehman stock, (pulling numbers outta my ass) than the idea that you are going to get that full 20% back is foolhardy, its pretty much gone.

Yes they will, with something like an S&P 500 index fund. Possibly even with a more narrow sector fund.

With the S&P 500 some of the 500 companies will do very well, some will muddle along and a few will tank. Over time it's beaten most stock-pickers including the full-time professionals. It's betting on the house at Vegas, vs. picking red 17.

So only people who might have invested in a specific type of fund will recoup, yet "everyone should hang on since obviously they will get there money back." It is not like these funds were investing in risky businesses for the most part, these were 100+year banking buisinesses that went belly up. /shrug

Maybe instead of advice like "just ride it out mr joe sixpack, itll come back up eventually" This advice here would be better.

 

[LordSnailz]

Any good ETFs to jump on right now? Thinking of putting more into my sharebuilder acct.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The S&P 500 is probably the safest choice for a stock-based investment, but other index funds / ETFs including total stock market, small cap and foreign index funds are (barring a Road Warrior future) all going to recover.

The index funds I'd worry about are very narrow funds with only a few stocks in them. The smaller the number of stocks, the closer it becomes to gambling on a single stock. But even there, a few competitors dying could mean the survivors win big.

Maybe instead of advice like "just ride it out mr joe sixpack, itll come back up eventually" This advice here would be better.

I'd worry about riding it out if I had money in individual stocks, but with any index fund the risk of a permanent loss is much lower.

Most dangerous right now is having a lot of company stock in your employer -- they have a major problem and lay you off just when your stock becomes worthless.

 

[GeneValgene]

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence
401k(1) - -16%
401k(2) - -20%
IRA - -42%
trading account - -60%

Not doing so well right now...

i feel your pain sounds like me right now....