Are you putting extra money in the market now?

[mrsw101109]

It’s tempting to pull some cash from savings and throw it in the stock market. But I’m afraid it could go even lower.

[lauren170]

When I rolled over H’s 401k I kept half out of the market because I don’t trust Trump. I’m going to put it back in soon, but personally feel the market will go lower when we hit rock bottom (hospitals overwhelmed/massive quarantines) in our country in the next few weeks. But I’m no expert...so take with a grain of salt.

[Pom]

Not yet.

[farmvillelover]

I did some. I have about half of what I was holding back still ready. I might do more today.

[goldengirlz]

I doubt we’ve seen the bottom. I think investors are still holding out hope for a bailout/stimulus package (judging from the articles I’m reading) and that’s causing the volatility as hopes are raised and then dashed. I personally doubt that this administration will put together a plan that will stabilize things — but if you’re more optimistic, this may be a good buying time. OTOH, if you’re a skeptic like me, then you might want to wait till April/May when companies start reporting Q1 earnings. I think they’ll look pretty bleak and there may be another buying opportunity then.

Also, look at where stocks are compared with last year and the year before. Prices are still high! As I said on CEP, there’s plenty of room to fall.

(ETA: Our personal investment strategy is to invest the same amount each month instead of trying to time the market. That hasn’t changed.)

[raangoli]

I nibbled and threw some in the last few weeks. But I’m now waiting. It’s money that I do not need in the near term and I’m willing to let it ride.

Let’s hope this isn’t a terrible decision. 😂

[AdaraMarie]

I didn't do anything with a chunk of money, but it did spur me to go in and increase my 401k contribution by 1% which I had been meaning to do anyway.

[simpsongal]

Yes, we bought 4 blue-chip stocks today for strong companies that have been hammered. Wish we had more to put in...

[lolalolalola]

I just opened a self directed investment account this morning. Once it's processed ^ ready for use I plan to do some targeted investment.

[flygirl]

I prefunded my DS 529 vs monthly amounts for the rest of the year.

[farfalla2011]

We haven't yet, but I'm going to finally open a 529 for my little guy and take advantage of the lower prices. I'd love to buy in for general investing, but not sure if we will yet since I also don't think we've hit the bottom of this drop.

[awkwardpenguin]

We dollar cost average by putting in the same amount each month. Takes the guesswork and market timing out of it.

[k3am]

I had them pull 401k out of my bonus this year, which I usually don't.

DH is getting an itchy finger for making our annual investment early. I think it's still got a ways to drop.

[dottyblue]

I updated my future 401K contributions to go 100% to stocks (we are 25 years from retirement). I don't have extra cash laying around to put in the market but I figure this will serve me long term.

[aprilsails]

DH just took his tax return ($4k) and put it straight into his TFSA in Asian markets. He thinks they will bounce back soon. I don’t have anything to play with right now so I’m just doing my standard monthly investments.

[sillygoosegirl]

Take a look at some graphs that go back at least 1-5 years before making that decision. The market has fallen a lot in recent weeks, but it's still up compared to 1 year ago (barely), and still up a lot compared to 5 years ago.

I'd keep buying in your 401(k), or whatever you usually do. I think we're going to see a lot more losses before we see recovery, but nobody really knows...

[ohgillian]

Yup. Even if we aren't at the bottom, it still seems like a great time to buy since I have decades left in terms of needing the funds.

That said, we aren't sitting on much cash right now, unfortunately.

I bought:

Disney
Carnival Cruise Line
AAWW
DDBT

DH bought a few things too but I don't know what. I would put more cash in if I had it available.

[oswin]

Is this a good time to rebalance? I've been remiss in rebalancing our investments...well, ever, so about 20% of our portfolio is in a bond fund, with the rest in stocks. Given that we're young, I'd be comfortable with 10% in bonds, 90% in stocks...so is it crazy to sell half the Vanguard bond fund and buy VTSAX instead? I don't really have any extra cash to invest, but I was reading that rebalancing when the market tanks can be good too. And of course if it goes lower, well, whatever.

[Pom]

As to rebalancing, we did so in early January, right before my 50th birthday. Glad we had that discussion and made some moves. I slow pedaled handling some inheritance from my mom's passing until I had tax prep done and it is all still sitting in cash. When things seem more under control, I will start moving that into the market.

GL everyone. And PSA: don't forget to donate what you can to your local food bank.

[pumpkin]

I definitely need to do some rebalancing.
Along with trying to figure out how best to invest my TSP. Anyone have advice or suggestions for Feds/TSP?

[lolalolalola]

We just put a large amount into the market and will put more in once we get our tax refund. DH said it felt weird to be doing that given what’s going on but hopefully the market recovery happens sooner rather than later...

[farmvillelover]

The first week in March I did, and the other week when the S&P went below 2300 I put in another chunk. I figure we won't need it for a while so I just did it.

[ny96]

We just sold a bunch of stock because we concerned about overvaluation, and we wanted a larger cash reserve.

[lolalolalola]

Apr 16, 2020 16:23:12 GMT -5 ny96 said:

We just sold a bunch of stock because we concerned about overvaluation, and we wanted a larger cash reserve.

It scares me to think that there are still overvalued stocks out there!

[ny96]

Apr 16, 2020 17:01:40 GMT -5 lolalolalola said:

Apr 16, 2020 16:23:12 GMT -5 ny96 said:

We just sold a bunch of stock because we concerned about overvaluation, and we wanted a larger cash reserve.

It scares me to think that there are still overvalued stocks out there!

We’re in the middle of an international crisis and 22 million people have lost their jobs, but our portfolio is only down about 8%, I’m worried.

[lolalolalola]

Apr 16, 2020 17:29:31 GMT -5 ny96 said:

Apr 16, 2020 17:01:40 GMT -5 lolalolalola said:

It scares me to think that there are still overvalued stocks out there!

We’re in the middle of an international crisis and 22 million people have lost their jobs, but our portfolio is only down about 8%, I’m worried.

You must have done a good job picking them to begin with! Our portfolio is down a lot more than that..

[gt7301b]

I have some cash I want to invest, but I am waiting. I don't think we are close to the bottom. I am not in the prediction business but even if we are able to resume normal activity by mid year the year will be terrible for most publicly traded companies outside of amazon and target. That being said I hope I am wrong.

[farmvillelover]

Apr 16, 2020 18:31:54 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

I have some cash I want to invest, but I am waiting. I don't think we are close to the bottom. I am not in the prediction business but even if we are able to resume normal activity by mid year the year will be terrible for most publicly traded companies outside of amazon and target. That being said I hope I am wrong.

So much speculation everywhere, and I don't think that all of it is unfounded.  I read about 3 weeks ago from someone I've known a few years that works in NY on wall street: "Three REITs requested forbearance on their Credit Agreements yesterday (public information) because the value of mortgage-backed securities have slumped and the funds couldn’t make margin calls from banks. Expect the considerable weakness in the commercial real estate sector and looming defaults to drive markets down in the near term. This is indicative of recession setting in.  So. The stock market will stand on both feet today, stumble to the door for support and then flop over. I expect a larger decline very soon."

eta: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-24/invesco-mortgage-capital-warns-it-s-unable-to-fund-margin-calls

[lolalolalola]

Apr 16, 2020 18:31:54 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

I have some cash I want to invest, but I am waiting. I don't think we are close to the bottom. I am not in the prediction business but even if we are able to resume normal activity by mid year the year will be terrible for most publicly traded companies outside of amazon and target. That being said I hope I am wrong.

It’s so hard to time the bottom. In figure if I can keep in in for the long term then I’ll still do ok.

I am totally kicking myself for not buying my own company stock when it dropped from $11.00 to $2.20 in March. It’s now back up to $3.80. So I am better at this in theory than practice.

[gt7301b]

Apr 16, 2020 20:41:33 GMT -5 lolalolalola said:

Apr 16, 2020 18:31:54 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

I have some cash I want to invest, but I am waiting. I don't think we are close to the bottom. I am not in the prediction business but even if we are able to resume normal activity by mid year the year will be terrible for most publicly traded companies outside of amazon and target. That being said I hope I am wrong.

It’s so hard to time the bottom. In figure if I can keep in in for the long term then I’ll still do ok.

I am totally kicking myself for not buying my own company stock when it dropped from $11.00 to $2.20 in March. It’s now back up to $3.80. So I am better at this in theory than practice.

Oh I completely agree that it is impossible to time the market.  I just think that the economic inactivity isn't properly priced into the current values of stocks.  My interpretation of the recent stock market uptick is that the market is optimistic about the economy opening back up fairly quickly but everything I have read based on the modeling of the virus says even if things don't open back up we are still going to be social distancing and at a reduced level of economic activity for months to come.