Boy, that Dow

[Molly]

I have an fixed index annuity, an IRA and a pension. I think of it as diversifying. If the market tanks, at least my pension and annuity payments remain the same.

[dmc]

I rebalanced about a month ago, I guess it will help a little. If it drops much more I’ll need to rebalance back by buying more stock. I much prefer selling stock because it has gone up, instead of buying because it has fallen.

One thing I need to consider is with the market down, so are interest rates. I’m buying a house next month and I’m really thinking of getting a loan as the rates are around 3%. Something to consider.

[Rogar]

I can imagine Donald pressuring the Fed to cut rates. I don't know if that could affect mortgage rates in the future. I was lucky to do some major re balancing out of equities over the last couple of months. I don't see balancing back into stocks anytime in the near future. If it should come to some sort of economic crisis I don't think the Trump economy is prepared for the same type of stimulus we had with Obama last time. Interest rates are already near rock bottom and the national debt and government spending are already at record highs without any additional stimulus.

I went into an established neighborhood Chinese restaurant today for lunch. They are usually about half full during lunch hour, but I was their only customer today. I sort of felt sorry for them.

[SteveinMN]

Is anyone buying?

Staying the course -- for now, anyway. Even with all the -- umm -- activity of the last few days, we're still in "correction" territory, a place the market hasn't been in a while. If we'd sold big-time or got out we would have missed a market that almost hit 30,000 just a few weeks ago. We rebalanced as we move toward DW's retirement. But it will have to get worse for a little while longer before we make a stronger move toward the exits.

[bae]

I have about 5 years' of cash on-hand for living expenses, so I don't feel any rush to panic about the market panic at the moment.

[sweetana3]

Our net worth is about 30% cash or equivalents and probably much higher depending on how you fit in pension and SS. It is what allows me to sleep at night and not obsess over the stock market. This will probably last a fair bit of time until the supply chains are sorted out. I have no impact on what other countries do, so I can only concentrate on what is going on right around me.

[Rogar]

I think of bond mutual funds as "almost cash" barring some sort of major financial meltdown. My actual emergency money in the banks is about 10% of my total investments and plenty to last for some time. I've pretty much stuck to 100 minus age equals stock allocations. Cash on hand as in legal tender in the house is not a lot, but I tend to use actual cash for a lot of purchase transactions. I've been thinking if things develop more it might be better to use credit cards and avoid hand-to-hand cash exchanges.

Some radio financial adviser I heard was actually deviating from the stay the course advise. He said if you are person not comfortable with things and not sleeping at night the recommendation was to lighten up on stocks. His reasoning was that a person could sell some stocks and still realize decent profits due to the bull market stock run up. Not my approach, but a thought for people heavy into stocks.

[catherine]

All my net worth is in real estate, as in the two roofs over my family's heads. I wonder how that will fare, especially if we are headed into another recession due to the virus or bear market.

[SteveinMN]

We've got about a year of living expenses sitting in our credit union and hold some more cash as part of our retirement/savings allocations; maybe 20% right now.

[Molly]

I've been in this game long enough to panic when the Dow Jones starts to skyrocket, rather than fall. I saw this in the Dot.com bust and in the sub-prime mess. About six months ago, with the rising stock market, I started moving our assets to a more conservative allocation. More in cash and bonds, less in stocks. When we were younger, we could easily ride out the long downturns, but not anymore. We are no longer in the accumulation phase, but the distribution phase. That makes all the difference in the world.

The market could bounce back quickly or not. Who knows. I'm just glad we are in a more conservative allocation.