Quote:
Originally Posted by captainofiron
I work at a start up, so we have plenty of rich investor types come in, most of them are pretty cool and I regularly chat with one of them about investments and frugality (think Mr Money Mustache)
The other day he was talking about how he is building up his savings to buy a bunch of assets when the market crashes in the next year or 2
this got me thinking... A LOT
what all are you guys doing to limit the damage if the market crashes or if we hit another Great recession? Any tips for us lowly newbs? haha
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Great question — and the correct answer is..... “it depends”. Depends on your time horizon — depends on your job security — depends on your debt load...
Dodging the question? Nope....
But “trying to time the market” is almost impossible - even if you’re a professional. The correct way for the average guy to invest is to invest when you have the money... particularly if your horizon is 5 / 10 /20 years. The idiots that BAILED out of stock that they’d bought high going in to 2009.... and SOLD... they lost their you know what. Was there a bunch of handwringing and worry while the market sunk 40%... you bet! But had they held the course - and in fact bought instead of sold - they’d have made a bundle plus.
I do investing AND I also “trade” a bit.... very little on the trading - but if Amazon is going up and down $50 a day - I might play with that a bit... but that’s a whole different question — but to answer your question — right now I’m not buying much of anything because nothing seems to be working. So I’m long cash and sitting back to see what happens.
HOWEVER — my CORE investments don’t change very much because that’s where my income comes from - and they keep paying dividends regardless of their stock price...
If your horizon is “retirement” — and you’re investing in your 401/IRA/ROTH — just keep buying and putting money to work. We’ve discussed this all in the thread a million times.
If you have a 2 or 3 year horizon — that’s pretty short term and if that’s the case — and you’re going to need the money for something — then taking some profits (or selling some losers before they’re bigger losers) never hurts.