So how come no posts about money lost?

[The Captain]

Don't take your eyes off the little ball...it will always bounce back.

[Bonny]

Aug 27, 2015 9:27:30 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Don't take your eyes off the little ball...it will always bounce back.

Is that the sing along bouncing ball?

[Bonny]

Far scarier to us has been the drop in oil prices. About 2/3 of our retirement is oil royalties. Watching that go down by more than 50% with no end in sight is definitely stomach churning.

[kent]

Aug 27, 2015 6:22:45 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nobody on the internet ever loses money, lol. We are all market geniuses with positive cash flow at all times! lol

 Isn't THAT the truth!  I remember somebody on the old board saying something along the lines of losing around $100K over a few days but it was OK because it only represented about 2% of their portfolio - yeah, right.

Re the OP - we are actually down about 1.75% this year - mostly due to the last six days.  Yesterday was a major boost.  The good news is we are retired and, fortunately, have no use (need) for the money.

Oh, and the 1.75% YTD loss only amounts to $1.5M -  

[hoops902]

I just don't really look. Not sure I could even tell you how much money I had at the peak and I won't know what it went down to. I know it's not enough to retire yet, so it doesn't matter so much to me.

I actually have way too much money in checking/savings...I'll probably a big chunk of that into an index now that the market has spiked down a bit.  In 6 months I'll have forgotten I even did that though.  Just way too far from retirement to pay much attention to it. 

[HoneyBBQ]

Aug 26, 2015 19:30:28 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I just haven't looked.

Me neither. I only look 1x a month, and it's not til next Monday.

If it went down 10% I'm guessing I've lost at least $100,000.    Oh well. 

[Tiny]

I'm in the group with "it's imaginary money"... AND I don't really check it all that often. I know my total balances have dropped, but I'm not upset about 'lost money' - since I don't really feel like I had something that's now gone.

I'm sure if I was counting on having X number of dollars in the account(s) and suddenly it dropped from X to X*.95 or X*.90 (lost 5% or 10%) I'd be more concerned... since I no longer had X dollars and I was counting on having X dollars.

I did use some of my cash to buy additional shares(ahead of schedule) in a fund I'm working on building up since the price dropped... I just kept telling myself it was a sale. Who doesn't 'stock up' when there's a sale - I was gonna buy it eventually anyway...

[tskeeter]

Aug 27, 2015 8:44:02 GMT -5 swamp said:

I haven't looked.

I'm kind of bummed we don't have the extra money to toss in some investments right now.

Dang truck

Dang dock

Dang Disney


Dang, dang, dang  

[swamp]

Aug 27, 2015 11:31:51 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

Aug 27, 2015 8:44:02 GMT -5 swamp said:

I haven't looked.

I'm kind of bummed we don't have the extra money to toss in some investments right now.

Dang truck

Dang dock

Dang Disney


Dang, dang, dang  

You forgot the septic repairs and the deck railing. 

[tcu2003]

Aug 27, 2015 10:33:39 GMT -5 HoneyBBQ said:

Aug 26, 2015 19:30:28 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I just haven't looked.

Me neither. I only look 1x a month, and it's not til next Monday.

Ditto for me. Hopefully it's partially recovered by then.

[steph08]

I didn't want to look, but I had a meeting with a retirement planner yesterday, and unfortunately, he showed me the balance.  I was down about 8%.

[Deleted]

I am down 6.5% YTD as of yesterday.  However over the last 12 months, I am still up 8.5%.  I am not letting it bother me. 

[mojothehelpermonkey]

I have been looking, mostly because I am unemployed and have nothing better to do . I actually checked my accounts Monday morning before hearing anything in the media and was all WTF. It looks like I am down about 10K between my retirement accounts and my brokerage account. Luckily, I still have enough in my non-invested emergency fund to get me through another year without income. I hope things have improved by then because I might have to dip into my brokerage account if I decide to move or go back to school.

[movingforward]

I check mine all the time.  I need to stop!

[Regis]

Aug 27, 2015 12:41:15 GMT -5 steph08 said:

I didn't want to look, but I had a meeting with a retirement planner yesterday, and unfortunately, he showed me the balance.  I was down about 8%.

Tell your retirement planner to show you your balance at the end of today.  You'll feel better.  

[whispering17]

I went down a few thousand...but had 95% of it back by Friday. I'm not using that money  till I'm 70....so I'm ok.

[TheHaitian]

I honestly haven't looked until today... Cried a bit and reminded myself I got "25-30 years" to recoup.

We discussed it again and agree 55 is the desirable age and 60 is the next second choice depending on how things look at 55.

We plan on ramping up savings starting next year...

[Bonny]

Aug 27, 2015 10:26:01 GMT -5 kent said:

Aug 27, 2015 6:22:45 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nobody on the internet ever loses money, lol. We are all market geniuses with positive cash flow at all times! lol

 Isn't THAT the truth!  I remember somebody on the old board saying something along the lines of losing around $100K over a few days but it was OK because it only represented about 2% of their portfolio - yeah, right.

Re the OP - we are actually down about 1.75% this year - mostly due to the last six days.  Yesterday was a major boost.  The good news is we are retired and, fortunately, have no use (need) for the money.

Oh, and the 1.75% YTD loss only amounts to $1.5M -  

You know, technically that could have been true for a while. If someone had limited exposure to the stock market that person could have only lost $100k on a $5M portfolio.

But when the stock market plunges almost everything else does too even if it isn't as quick. People sell at the low and pile into treasuries or bonds (thinking that's "safe") therefore dropping yields and the price of bonds. Then they find they have no liquidity and have to sell their real estate.

It's a vicious cycle!

[yogiii]

I looked today and I'm still above the milestone, barely but

[mojothehelpermonkey]

I just checked again too. It looks like I am only down $6K now. That money is still doing much better than my CD that earned me ~$300 over the course of 3 years.

[joemilitary]

I haven't looked

but didn't the gains on the end of the week make up for the "loss"? 

I thought I saw that the overall week was a small positive gain? 

[milee]

Aug 27, 2015 11:05:19 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

Aug 26, 2015 20:11:23 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

I'm still trying to remind myself it is a nice "sale".  Though that sports car is looking mighty tempting right now.

make your money now and buy the sports car during the next recession. that's where the deals are, especially on gently used things and anything that's a toy.

Next recession i'll probably have to replace my SUV, but i won't pay the prices they want today

Same here. Last recession - 2010 -  I got a screaming good deal on my Mercedes SUV - it had 27,000 miles and was less than 1/2 the price of a new one with the same options. 

Thinking of replacing it, but am not loving the prices.  To get something similar (around 30k miles) right now, the prices are around 2/3 the price of a new one and they're selling quickly. 

[joemilitary]

From the below:

"By the end of the week, however, all had crossed back over that threshold, and the Nasdaq Composite had even moved back into positive territory for the year to date."

Week Ended August 28, 2015

Stocks see most volatility in four years but end with modest gain
The large-cap Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended the week with a modest gain but not before enduring the highest level of volatility in four years. The week's wild swings produced disparate results for the major equity market yardsticks, with the smaller-cap indexes roughly flat, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite with a substantial gain. All of the major benchmarks sank into correction territory—or a drop of more than 10% from their highs—early in the week, a misfortune that only the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Russell 2000 Index had suffered by the previous Friday. By the end of the week, however, all had crossed back over that threshold, and the Nasdaq Composite had even moved back into positive territory for the year to date.

individual.troweprice.com/public/Retail/Planning-&-Research/T.-Rowe-Price-Insights/Market-Analysis/Weekly-Wrap-Ups

[joemilitary]

www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2015/08/28/stocks-friday/71292112/

Despite Monday's horrific 1,000-point Dow drop just after the opening bell, all three major indexes ended up for the week. The Nasdaq is in the black for the calendar year, but the Dow and S&P 500 remain red for 2015.

How major benchmarks did for the week:

■ Dow, up 1.1%.
■ Nasdaq, up 2.6%
■ S&P 500, up 0.9%

[MN-Investor]

I update our portfolio each weekend and at the end of each month (only keeping month end data). I calculate a few percentages -

Change from end of last month -   -2.4%

Year to date change -   +2.48%

Change from one year ago -    +5.31%

So I'm fine with how things stand.

I am over-weighted in the stock of my former employer, gradually moving out of it. It's up 15% from one year ago.

[ArchietheDragon]

I update at the end of every month.  I updated this morning for August.  I am down about 5% from my July month end balances. 

[ArchietheDragon]

Of course, the market is down 1% preopen today.. 

[HoneyBBQ]

I'm down 30k from last month. 

[Regis]

Aug 31, 2015 8:07:03 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Of course, the market is down 1% preopen today.. 

Many dividends are reinvested on the last day of the month.  Buying shares on sale!

[Deleted]

I did my entries today and I'm only down 2.5% but there has been new money going in to offset some of the losses.