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Investments starting to crawl back. First one back to even wins the stated prize, TBD.
Very premature start to this thread? Probably.

Got roughly half of it back. Even though most of my investments are in preferreds, utilities, telecoms, bonds and closed end bond funds, metals and other defensive plays, I still got hit harder than I thought I would. I have not bought or sold anything. My exposure to oil and gas stocks and MLPs have been painful. I would like to see oil get back into the 40-60 range but that may take a while.

What is "even?"

I bought a bunch of stocks when the market was low, so with the gains my funds are now ahead of where I was at the previous peak, if that counts.

But if you don't count contributions, nobody should be back yet unless they had everything in Amazon.

Eduardo wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:47 pm

What is "even?"

I bought a bunch of stocks when the market was low, so with the gains my funds are now ahead of where I was at the previous peak, if that counts.

But if you don't count contributions, nobody should be back yet unless they had everything in Amazon.

That certainly counts Eduardo.Congrats.
Anyone fully invested in Jan., such as myself, with no dry powder could not get in on the obvious buying opportunity as you did.
I personally am in similar position as SMR. I think we would consider "even" to be something like recovering to peak account balances of say January.

Based on a very limited response you appear to currently be in lead for prize.(TBD)

He is indeed in the lead so far. Even though I have been on the sidelines with roughly a third of what I a have in stock market money, I have been hesitant to pull the trigger. Therefore Eduardo you are in first place so far.

Even of January? That should take until Christmas.

It probably shouldn't count, unless you deduct the cash that was invested. Simply converting cash to investments wouldn't really seem to fit the purpose.

But in any case, I don't need a prize. I've already "won" several thousands of dollars just by buying in at the right time (or what currently appears to have been the right time). But I still wouldn't count that safe. I think the highs are a long ways off, and we could head back the other direction over the summer. Many of the losses were emotional. Many of the gains since have been as well. The volatility is astounding and people are guessing, buying and selling out of hope and fear.

I think it's a long time until we see where the economy really stands and can actually make sound investment decisions.

The best approach right now I think, as we sit somewhere between lows and highs, is to either do nothing, or dollar cost averaging where you buy in phases. And if you're fully invested... well, I certainly wouldn't sell everything and just stick with whatever your regular withdrawals were before.

But don't take this as professional advice. Like I said, we're all just guessing, including me. We may never recover. We may be back to highs in 2 weeks. That's how insane the world is right now. Record low unemployment to record highs in a matter of weeks? That sort of thing should never happen in an economy such as ours.

tech58 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 4:42 pm

Investments starting to crawl back. First one back to even wins the stated prize, TBD.
Very premature start to this thread? Probably.

don't mean to intrude, but, what is an investment? stocks only or one's overall portfolio, which might include a wide variety of different risks? and, not to make it more complicated, but comparing the portfolio of someone in their 30-40's would be far different than someone who is 60 and older. one would expect someone younger to be weighted toward more risk.

good luck all!

Notes,my initial thoughts were about those of us fully invested at the first few weeks of 2020 and riding a bull that i figured the boys in power would be inclined to carry thru the Nov. election.
A month later BOOM! 25-30% right off the top, maybe more in some cases.

As you pointed out each of us is different. Some may have seen a large drop in a portfolio that provides their yearly income. Others not so much.

Age aside, and portfolio mix aside, i felt a need to see a few of us with a light at the end of the tunnel.
We are 1/3-1/2 of the way back. GREAT!!

I want to cheer someone on that NEEDS the recovery.

Eduardo, shrewd investor that he is, maybe should be handicapped in some way despite my earlier inclusion of his "bottom fishing" as within the bounds of the contest,not sure about that.
Maybe only "ride-er-down and ride-er-back-up" cowboys should be included.Will take that under advisement.

"Ride-er-down and ride-er-back-up" sounds more appropriate to me.

Good luck to everyone out there. Stay safe! Our returns won't be any good on the other side of this life.