Entire stock portfolio down 50% in one year

[Anonymous]

Someone wise in Bogleheads told me once, “You only lose when you sell.”
Eventually his portfolio will go back up and you will have a lot of money again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband took all our money out of index funds and put in personal tech stops and it dropped 50% this year. My husband did this. I'm so scared and don't know what to do in our situation. He won't talk about it and calls me a fool to take the money out of the market now. I'm so angry to be in this situation.

Well, he made a bad choice, but he's right about your proposed course of action now. Don't compound (and lock in) his mistake with your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

You are in your 30s, have 1.5m in real estate equity, and you're scared?

Also, he didn't gamble away your 401k. He lost 50% of the value, but it easily could rebound in the 20+ years you have until retirement.

Your husband is right about you. In fact, you may not be a fool, you may be a blithering idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

You are in your 30s, have 1.5m in real estate equity, and you're scared?

Also, he didn't gamble away your 401k. He lost 50% of the value, but it easily could rebound in the 20+ years you have until retirement.

Your husband is right about you. In fact, you may not be a fool, you may be a blithering idiot.

Also, investing in conservative choices in your 30s . . . yeesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

You have about 30 more years, so it’s nothing to worry about. Plus, lots of index funds are down significantly. Index funds are of course the best to be in, but depending on the index, some are down significantly as the market dropped. Equity markets recover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband took all our money out of index funds and put in personal tech stops and it dropped 50% this year. My husband did this. I'm so scared and don't know what to do in our situation. He won't talk about it and calls me a fool to take the money out of the market now. I'm so angry to be in this situation.

Well, he made a bad choice, but he's right about your proposed course of action now. Don't compound (and lock in) his mistake with your own.

Some of those stocks at worth 80% of what they were a year ago. You really think it's just going to have a big turn around putting 10% of our portfolio in some random telecdoc company? If he played index funds the most we would love in a year is like 10 percent even in a recession. No one's stock portfolio should drop FIFTY PERCENT IN ONE YEAR if they are being moderate. I told him take $20k of money we can afford to lose and gamble with whatever you want to pick but don't make risky choices with our family's future.

[Anonymous]

Sorry some of these stocks dropped 80 PERCENT IN ONE YEAR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

Here's what has happened.. Risky stocks have dropped and conservative stocks have gone up. If you sell now and invest in conservative stocks, you are selling low and buying high. Don't. When there's a Russia-Ukraine deal, the market will rip. Sell when it goes up a lot. Wait for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve posted before and I’ll post again. Warren Buffett says index funds are the best place to put your money and it will always beat individual picks over time.

+ million

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

You are in your 30s, have 1.5m in real estate equity, and you're scared?

Also, he didn't gamble away your 401k. He lost 50% of the value, but it easily could rebound in the 20+ years you have until retirement.

Your husband is right about you. In fact, you may not be a fool, you may be a blithering idiot.

A smart investor wouldn't be down 50 PERCENT IN ONE YEAR. ONE YEAR.
From this point forward we have to invest in index funds and conservative choices to offset that we have 1mil dollars in about 15 random individual tech stocks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

You are in your 30s, have 1.5m in real estate equity, and you're scared?

Also, he didn't gamble away your 401k. He lost 50% of the value, but it easily could rebound in the 20+ years you have until retirement.

Your husband is right about you. In fact, you may not be a fool, you may be a blithering idiot.

Also, investing in conservative choices in your 30s . . . yeesh.

Right???? You’re in your 30’s. Take some risks. You have like 20+ years to worry about switching over to bonds or a balanced index or whatever. Maybe your husband knows what he’s doing. Also, I hate how people always rush to a financial advisor. They’re great don’t get me wrong, but you can also just learn a whole bunch and do it yourself.

And yes, I do consider index funds like VTSAX a great option, but still maybe the tech stocks are good. I just bought CRGE which is charging infrastructure because I think electric cars are the future. You can take evaluated risks when you’re younger. Maybe your husband will come out on top and you can then transfer profits to a “safer” index fund later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry some of these stocks dropped 80 PERCENT IN ONE YEAR.

Yeah, that happens. Trust your husband and ride it out.

Which tech stocks? Are they small cap or what are we talking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

You are in your 30s, have 1.5m in real estate equity, and you're scared?

Also, he didn't gamble away your 401k. He lost 50% of the value, but it easily could rebound in the 20+ years you have until retirement.

Your husband is right about you. In fact, you may not be a fool, you may be a blithering idiot.

I bet all the men, who are statistically and biologically are more programmed to risk, are okay with this generally and it’s a bunch of low info women who are aghast. That’s a huge generalization, and I know I sound like a dck, but really it’s probably true.


It’s always part of the reason there is a salary imbalance between men and women. Men straight up advocate harder for themselves and take more risks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband took all our money out of index funds and put in personal tech stops and it dropped 50% this year. My husband did this. I'm so scared and don't know what to do in our situation. He won't talk about it and calls me a fool to take the money out of the market now. I'm so angry to be in this situation.

Well, he made a bad choice, but he's right about your proposed course of action now. Don't compound (and lock in) his mistake with your own.

Some of those stocks at worth 80% of what they were a year ago. You really think it's just going to have a big turn around putting 10% of our portfolio in some random telecdoc company? If he played index funds the most we would love in a year is like 10 percent even in a recession. No one's stock portfolio should drop FIFTY PERCENT IN ONE YEAR if they are being moderate. I told him take $20k of money we can afford to lose and gamble with whatever you want to pick but don't make risky choices with our family's future.

You are talking about the past. That's irrelevant re the decision of what to do going forward. If you don't understand this very basic concept, you really should not offer an opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Yah. Luckily we have 1.5mil equity in RE but I’m scared of what he’s done. Totally reckless. We are late 30’s, 2 kids. I told him I am taking over finances from this point forward. He won’t switch out the stocks he’s in now but from this point forward it’s going to be all conservative choices. Unfortunately he basically gambled away our 401k doing this.

You are in your 30s, have 1.5m in real estate equity, and you're scared?

Also, he didn't gamble away your 401k. He lost 50% of the value, but it easily could rebound in the 20+ years you have until retirement.

Your husband is right about you. In fact, you may not be a fool, you may be a blithering idiot.

A smart investor wouldn't be down 50 PERCENT IN ONE YEAR. ONE YEAR.
From this point forward we have to invest in index funds and conservative choices to offset that we have 1mil dollars in about 15 random individual tech stocks.

No one is saying this was a good choice. But (i) locking in your losses is moronic, and (ii) with the time frame you have, investing in "conservative choices" is equally foolish. Index funds are fine going forward, and if you want to sell the stocks when they come back to even and return to index funds, that may be OK, too.