I congratulate the forum

[djohnflatfeecfp]

Oh, and don't forget the old "indicator" that if the NFC wins the Super Bowl the market will be up.  Just ignore that the AFC won it last year and the market was positive.  Fake news!

[Ryan]

Focusing just on stocks much misses the bright-side-- interest rates rose. If that keeps happening we may get a viable, passive alternative to just stocks again. Maybe, someday. I think many of us are unhappy with being stock-heavy right now, but we're still doing it right now because the "safety" premium is just too darn high, even with stocks at these prices compared to earnings and dividends.

[RJ]

1500 down, but now back to about a 1000 down. This is getting interesting...

[jfoxcpacfp]

10% correction = Roth conversion territory

[hightower]

Well, it looks like we're finally seeing a real correction, huh?

@jfoxcpacfp what do you mean roth conversion territory?

[jfoxcpacfp]

The market must drop at least 10% for an official correction. We're not even close.

I convert some of my TIRA to a Roth whenever we have a correction. I'll also encourage some clients to do the same, depending upon available cash, tax bracket, age, etc.

I'm very proud to say that not one client has called panic-stricken. But we encourage those conversations if anyone is so inclined. And we'll send out commentary if the market doesn't pull out in the next day or so.

[Phoenixdown99]

It seems my Vanguard Total Stock Market fund (taxable account) has lost the gains it made since I opened it in January. Would now be an appropriate time to try TLH?

[jz]

@Phoenixdown99, Your thinking is on target ; however, ****market predictor alert****, there will be more downdraft before this correction is over.

[Hatton]

WSJ says the Dow is down 8.5% from recent peak. So not quite a correction yet. Time to hunker down and stick with your plan. Possible roth conversion tomorrow.

[TheGipper]

There is probably no scientific data to support doing this, and it is very unbogleheadish, but whenever the market has really bad day (my definition >2% intraday drop in VTI or VXUS) I make a large buy. Only exception is if it happens on Fri, I wait till Mon to buy. Often the dip spills into Mon.

Today I bought about 6x my usual monthly VTIAX purchase.

[eyes4success]

I've shared with my really good friend/colleague about my personal finances, tried to encourage him to learn more about finances and investing. He's not a huge spender and he's pretty good at saving, only problem is he's been saving and not really investing and has about $300,000 in his savings account! He has no loans and no credit card debt. I've encouraged him to read financial books that I've liked and helped me (The 4 pillars of investing, Little book of Common Sense of Investing, Random walk on Wall street, Whitecoat Investor). Unfortunately, he decided to dive into investing and put in $100,000 in WealthFront (roboadvisor) on February 3 and has lost about $9,000 already and is completely discouraged. I can see him going through all the emotions of a first time investor experiencing losing his money, sending me texts and links of articles talking about how this is the start of the Bear Market and "Woe is me!". He's now thinking "Well if this is a dip I'll just put in another $10,000!" I don't think this is the best thing to do for him currently at this time. I know other people think it's a good time to buy, but may be for his emotional state probably not the best for him at this time.

I try not to give advice when dealing with other people's investings and only like to share what I do, but any advice, links, reading material?

Thanks

[Hatton]

It is tough to believe when the first investment goes down you are doing the right thing. I lost money on my first investment but kept going. The books you referenced above are all good. Lots of great blogs out there as well. Tell him to quit reading financial info for the next few weeks.

[Antares]

eyes4success wrote:

I’ve shared with my really good friend/colleague about my personal finances, tried to encourage him to learn more about finances and investing. He’s not a huge spender and he’s pretty good at saving, only problem is he’s been saving and not really investing and has about $300,000 in his savings account! He has no loans and no credit card debt. I’ve encouraged him to read financial books that I’ve liked and helped me (The 4 pillars of investing, Little book of Common Sense of Investing, Random walk on Wall street, Whitecoat Investor). Unfortunately, he decided to dive into investing and put in $100,000 in WealthFront (roboadvisor) on February 3 and has lost about $9,000 already and is completely discouraged. I can see him going through all the emotions of a first time investor experiencing losing his money, sending me texts and links of articles talking about how this is the start of the Bear Market and “Woe is me!”. He’s now thinking “Well if this is a dip I’ll just put in another $10,000!” I don’t think this is the best thing to do for him currently at this time. I know other people think it’s a good time to buy, but may be for his emotional state probably not the best for him at this time.

I try not to give advice when dealing with other people’s investings and only like to share what I do, but any advice, links, reading material?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I’d congratulate him on taking a step toward his future financial well-being. It’s the responsible thing to do. It’s discouraging to put a large sum in just before a downturn. I’d offer that he might be more comfortable dollar cost averaging his contributions over the next year or some such notion.

[Ryan]

eyes4success, tell him to interview some financial advisors. Maybe send him here where he can get advisor recommendations from people he doesn't know and leave it at that. My bias is avoiding giving investment advise to colleagues or friends-- part of what advisors get paid for is taking the blame for market downturns (thanks advisors, for your thick skin and level-headedness).

[Lithium]

That was the most - 41k - I can recall losing in one day. Previous was 33k with Brexit. On the other hand, I really have no idea what the most is my investments have ever gone up in value in one day. You definitely remember these days more.

I also put in all my 457b and Roth IRA contributions in January. Huge bummer.

Looks like I have about $320 to TLH tomorrow if nothing changes.