Anonymous wrote:I looked a week ago and it was down. Since the huge downturn days of the last week, I can't bring myself to check. I'm 55 and will need my retirement 7-10 years from now. Is it reasonable to stay the course and hope that I make losses back in the next decade or is that foolhardy? I just don't want to think about it.

The losses as of Friday haven’t eaten into last year’s gains. So you’re not in terrible shape yet. Given your age, you probably don’t have the most aggressive allocation, so your losses shouldn’t have been what the s&p 500 experienced.

I have a 403b (one of two) that looks like this:

MID CAP INDEX FUND 59.27%
STOCK INDEX FUND 22.37%
INTERNATL EQUITIES INDEX FUND 18.36%

I retired in the summer 2023 and currently work part time-time. I still have about 6.5 years before I hit age 59.5 but I still won’t necessarily need the funds at that point. I don’t know if I should make changes at this point or stay the course. In the past during downturns my financial advisor has said to stay the course, but I might need to give her a call. After all these years I still feel like a deer in headlights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked a week ago and it was down. Since the huge downturn days of the last week, I can't bring myself to check. I'm 55 and will need my retirement 7-10 years from now. Is it reasonable to stay the course and hope that I make losses back in the next decade or is that foolhardy? I just don't want to think about it.

Are you kidding? It could drop another 50% and not make it back for 10 years or more.

Look at the Nasdaq in 2000 - around 8000. It took until 2018 or so to make it back to that level.

The crash of 1929 - it took until around 1954 to make it back to that level for the Dow.

NP. On the other hand, if you kept adding 1% to your stock investments every month through these downturns you would make your money back in 10 years or less

+1
I didn't know until recently that if you include reinvesting dividends it would take approximately 7 years to recover after the 1929 crash.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked a week ago and it was down. Since the huge downturn days of the last week, I can't bring myself to check. I'm 55 and will need my retirement 7-10 years from now. Is it reasonable to stay the course and hope that I make losses back in the next decade or is that foolhardy? I just don't want to think about it.

Are you kidding? It could drop another 50% and not make it back for 10 years or more.

Look at the Nasdaq in 2000 - around 8000. It took until 2018 or so to make it back to that level.

The crash of 1929 - it took until around 1954 to make it back to that level for the Dow.

NP. On the other hand, if you kept adding 1% to your stock investments every month through these downturns you would make your money back in 10 years or less

Anonymous wrote:I looked a week ago and it was down. Since the huge downturn days of the last week, I can't bring myself to check. I'm 55 and will need my retirement 7-10 years from now. Is it reasonable to stay the course and hope that I make losses back in the next decade or is that foolhardy? I just don't want to think about it.

Are you kidding? It could drop another 50% and not make it back for 10 years or more.

Look at the Nasdaq in 2000 - around 8000. It took until 2018 or so to make it back to that level.

The crash of 1929 - it took until around 1954 to make it back to that level for the Dow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at mid $2million, thought I'd be at $3million in another 5 years.

I have a years salary sitting in cash, but so, so worried. I'm am going to lose my job and not be able to find another.

I haven't checked since last week. Will wait until Friday night, so if I lose a nights sleep at least it won't affect work.

Life was feeling pretty good. I've sacrificed and worked so hard for everything. I may not have been living in the rust belt but I'm a normal middle class person who just worked really, really hard.

I detest that man.

Times like these in the market are how you make your money.

Market is on a 20% off sale. Keep buying.

Oh the buy the dip BS. Because we all cashed out and are just waiting to reinvest. Because we all know this is the bottom?

And while I'm not the OP, you have no idea why she has $2M. I have more than I would have had because my parents died. Or maybe they just put away the max amount each year. Or maybe they didn't have kids.

Absolutely buy the dip. The market will have another all time high - be in in 1 year, 5 years, etc.

As another poster said, the stocks you buy today will be the money you’ll be living off of in 30 years, even if you’re near retirement age.

And if you’re near retirement age, I suggest the bucket approach:

1) 2-3 years of expenses in cash and cash equivalents.
2) 2-5 years of expenses in short - medium term bonds.
3) rest in stocks.

https://www.morningstar.com/portfolios/bucket-approach-building-retirement-portfolio

What exactly are cash equivalents? Money markets and high interest checking or savings accounts?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound ungrateful OP, most people don’t have the luxury of a 401k.

False. 72% of private employers offer a 401(k), and % is higher for civilian employers and gov't employers. Now - if people do not CHOOSE to set money aside, different matter. Everything is a choice.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.htm?ref=guideline.com#ncs_nb_table1

Your entitlement is showing.

Research from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2021 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) indicates that in 2020, approximately 34.6% of working-age individuals (ages 15 to 64) owned 401(k)-style defined contribution (DC) plans.

Oh, FU. 401ks are the least American workers deserve. We’d be better off with at least partial pensions too. And anyone can start an IRA.

Great advice as always being posted. We have DEI Kool aid drinkers and people engaging in market timing giving advice. If you can't take a 50% hit to your portfolio, you really need to up your allocation to bonds. It's all a mental game though. I check my investment once a year when I rebalance. If you are mentally weak or you can't change behavior that contributes to you anxiety, simply make changes to your investments and move on to more important things in your life.