Stock Market and your 401K

[DOUG]

The market dropped 1017 last week...

How low will she go today?  Was down over 1000, down over 700 a moment ago...

I'm older than most so my investments are extremely important to my retirement in 2018  //LMAO// 

Time to buy!  //OLDSKOOL//

[DOUG]

From a Jeeper/ PLANMAN:

Just a reminder for all my friends:

If you are accumulating funds for retirement and other goals, you want the stock market to go down so that your regular periodic investments buy more shares. You are in the accumulation of shares mode. You don't really want the stock market to go up until you are no longer primarily in an accumulation mode.

You want to accumulate shares of Apple at $65 each instead of $135 each. You want to accumulate shares of ExxonMobil at $65 each instead of $104 each. You want tech stocks to go down 40% and oil stocks to go down another 20%. You'd love for the Dow to go down to 12,000 (as long as you work in an industry that wouldn't have a corresponding elimination of your job).

If you are in retirement or withdrawing funds for other goals, 0% of the money you planned to spend/consume during the next 60 months should be in the stock market at all. The stock market is for monies you don't need to consume or spend for the next 5-10+ years. As a result, downturns in the market shouldn't affect you either.

History tells us all market downturns are temporary, and there is nothing to worry about unless you really believe that all the greatest companies in the USA and the world will all go bankrupt--in which case, it wouldn't matter where your money is anyway because it would be like a scene from the movie 2012 or the television series, The Walking Dead.

[kent10sne1]

I'm taking a big hit.    but i guess its been needing to come down for a while, just hate the large drops.

[tjsahara00]

Mine will be in 7 years and 8 months.....
Those make be more nervous than they did 10 years ago.

[tcdawg]

From a Jeeper/ PLANMAN:

Just a reminder for all my friends:

If you are accumulating funds for retirement and other goals, you want the stock market to go down so that your regular periodic investments buy more shares. You are in the accumulation of shares mode. You don't really want the stock market to go up until you are no longer primarily in an accumulation mode.

You want to accumulate shares of Apple at $65 each instead of $135 each. You want to accumulate shares of ExxonMobil at $65 each instead of $104 each. You want tech stocks to go down 40% and oil stocks to go down another 20%. You'd love for the Dow to go down to 12,000 (as long as you work in an industry that wouldn't have a corresponding elimination of your job).

If you are in retirement or withdrawing funds for other goals, 0% of the money you planned to spend/consume during the next 60 months should be in the stock market at all. The stock market is for monies you don't need to consume or spend for the next 5-10+ years. As a result, downturns in the market shouldn't affect you either.

History tells us all market downturns are temporary, and there is nothing to worry about unless you really believe that all the greatest companies in the USA and the world will all go bankrupt--in which case, it wouldn't matter where your money is anyway because it would be like a scene from the movie 2012 or the television series, The Walking Dead.

I concur with Planman.  Have had some good discussions with him on these subjects.

I am 20 years out from retirement so I am not worried...but i still don't like to see huge drops(corrections), it's the "frenzy" that causes concern. 

[kvom]

I've been fully invested for 35 years and been through a lot of ups and downs.  10% corrections happen frequently.

Something to consider.  If in 2007 you took a long nap and woke up in 2014, you would have had a 3% annualized return in an S&P500 investment.  Panic selling is the best way to be a loser in the market. 

Buying today might be a good idea if you have investable cash lying around.  Limit orders only in my view, as market orders in such an environment can catch you out.  Better yet, invest in mutual funds whose NAV is calculated only at EOD.

[BigMike]

Agree with everything that has been said.  My wife and I are both about 10 years from retirement.  Our portfolio is fairly diverse as well.

With that said, I can always become a democrat when I retire and hold my hand for everything that I didn't earn!   //LMAO//

[jc79]

Buying today might be a good idea if you have investable cash lying around. 

Glad this thread came up.  I don't watch the markets much... i try and live the "buy and hold" mentality.  I knew things were rocky this past week but hadn't thought about buying.  I had a nice chunk of money that had built up in the money market area in my 401k.  So I just bought a bunch of an ETF that my portfolio is based on...

[patman]

We're about 30 years out from retirement.... already got our orders placed for a few buys if they drop further.

No kids yet, but we've had crazy returns (100%+) on two 529 plans in the past few years. Wish our 401(k)s had that much success... could have bumped another year or two off of our working lives