Aaaah!

[RayIN]

We did 10 years ago when I retired so have only lost about $3k. Some folks claim they are losing $1k a day.

I'm down 9K so far-on paper. I took out 20K last fall when it was high; thought I did good-until IRS said this year I pay quarterly payments now because I didn't have enough withheld last year.

 

[No cats]

When you guys say your "down $xxxx, from what point? Year to date?, last week? your peak amount?

 

[RayIN]

When you guys say your "down $xxxx, from what point? Year to date?, last week? your peak amount?

That 9K drop was as of Monday. As of today's email I'm back up 7k. It's a good thing I don''t need any of it-so far.

 

[Chef Duane]

Just kinda' as a hobby stock and because it was so low I bought 5 shares of TSLA from my E-Trade account.
I'm sure DonTom will love me for this.

 

[No cats]

This thread has moved in another direction. This post will probably turbo charge it.

We vacationed in Puerto Vallarta this past December. I have family there, they are social people with high end parties and all that. Many expats, Canadian snow birds and European visitors are part of their social circle.

One couple from Texas was pitching XRP and doing the "pump and dump" big time. They were throwing money around and pushing the crypto hard. The guy was the typical salesman, good looking and gib. I was surprised how many people were buying it (people with net worth of $50 million or more). I totally refused him and he wouldn't stop pushing it, very annoying.

So XRP was $2.47 on Dec 15, 2024, it is now about $2. I'm not going to be doing crypto anytime soon.

How about you folks?

 

[Chef Duane]

So XRP was $2.47 on Dec 15, 2024, it is now about $2. I'm not going to be doing crypto anytime soon.

Now at $1.83. Ooof.

 

[Oldgator73]

So XRP was $2.47 on Dec 15, 2024, it is now about $2. I'm not going to be doing crypto anytime soon.

How about you folks?

I don’t know what XRP is and don’t have a clue how crypto works. We have investments that are the product of three generations. We feel like it’s our responsibility to protect it. We never made a bunch of money being in the military. My dad’s family were sharecroppers out of Dothan, AL. My mom’s family were from Tampa/Ybor City, FL. Her stepfather was career AF. Nobody made much money. My dad was a lineman out of IBEW Local 756 Daytona Beach, FL. I was a class B operator (truck driver) out of that local. So we are very conservative with our investments. We don’t use them for retirement purposes. If I die first my wife will have plenty to make herself comfortable in whatever retirement home she chooses. If she dies first I’ll make arrangements for the grandkids to inherit the funds.

 

[John From Detroit]

My 401K

One of the many musicians I know.

 

[Onyrlef]

We're not on the gold standard or iow's there's nothing making a dollar worth a dollar other than faith. The basis for that faith in this case is the bond market, bonds are investments in America, ie., a loan, like when your county floats a bond issue to build a new school. When the nasdaq ( too funny), S&P, and Dow start going south, traders traditionally look for security in the bond market. What happened two days ago was bonds were crashing as well and a crashing bond market indicates a lack of faith in the US economic infrastructure. That's when the jig was up.
Scott Galloway said on Tuesday that he plugged " How could the US balance all global trade deficits" into chat gpt and it spit out exactly what is taking place. Problem was, as he pointed out, they didn't think to add "and not cause armageddon".

 

[UTTransplant]

Losses or gains in the market are just on paper until you need the money. That’s why financial advisors recommend you leave a good chunk in the market for the future and some in lower risk investments for more near-term needs. On paper we have “lost” a chunk from the highs, but we still have more in the investments than we did when we retired almost 10 years ago.

 

[No cats]

Losses or gains in the market are just on paper until you need the money

That saying has a lot of merit, for IRAs and Roths Not as much with regular brokerage accounts.

I just finished our taxes and had a lot of Gains, dividends and interest earned on our taxable investments. These are monies made by owning T-Bills, ETFs and Mutual funds. So even though we did not take any of the money, we received 1099s with taxes due.

Since we live in California (9.3% rate) and have a federal tax bracket of 24%, I had to pay a lot of taxes (real money) on income that has been lost with the market being down. I expect that over the long run we'll get back our investments, but the taxes will not be coming back.

At least with the T-Bills there were no losses.

 

[Onyrlef]

Treasury Bill rates are glacial, gains and losses are measured in fractions of a point ie., the discount rate x ÷ 360. Gains and losses are shown at short term maturity. Small time investors, ergo, not Sovereign wealth funds which invest in TBills in increments of billions, would'nt ordinarily realize any more material capital gain in a TBill than if they'd buried their money in the back yard. TBills for the ordinary investor are extremely low yield savings accounts. When it reaches maturity, you're done, you take your gain or loss and move on.

 

[No cats]

3 month T-bills payed over 5% last year with no state income tax, with no risk, and liquid.

 

[OldWEB]

3 month T-bills payed over 5% last year with no state income tax, with no risk, and liquid.

This is the way I like to go... slow and easy w/o any worries.

 

[Utclmjmpr]

The world economy will be in crash mode for the next 18 month,, hang on tight..>>>Dan

 

[Oldgator73]

The world economy will be in crash mode for the next 18 month,, hang on tight..>>>Dan

I have a helmet.

 

[DutchmenSport]

I retired 3 years ago. When I hit 62.5 years old I cashed out my 401K and paid everything off. I had to pay income tax on it, but no penalties. I left about a thousand dollars in the balance. I then continued working until I hit 66 +. I signed up for Medicare at age 65 (no charge at all for part A). And then signed up for Social Security at 66 +. I continued working until about 67 and then quit. During those few years, I was able to recover about 90% of my original amount of 401K because we no longer had ANY debt, and I maxed out my contributions, along with company match at 5%.

So, when I finally retired, the stocks were plummeting and I did the math. I calculated how much I had contributed to my 401K and company match. The stock market was doing horrible then, and stock prices were falling bad. I decided I better go ahead and cash out, everything 100%. I did. I took all that money and put it into a regular bank savings account with a debit card and a very, very modest interest rate. (Hey.... I wasn't LOOSING money this way any more, and I am guaranteed at least a little interest, not a month-by-month 10% loss, until nothing was left!)

Well, it turned out, after I got the final check from the investment company, the amount on the check was $10.00 more than all the cash contributed to the account over that 3-4 year period. Had I kept the money there a bit longer, I would have actually been "negative" my original investment.

I watched the stocks for a while, and they kept plummeting. I was so glad I made that decision. Stocks eventually turned around some, and slowly came back up. But I still do not regret my 2 decisions with withdraw, pay everything off, build back up, and then eventually withdraw it all completely. I don't advise this for everyone, but I feel much better that my original investment is much safer right now than with the falling stock market.

Because we no longer have any debt, that savings account has since doubled from when we first started it. It was possible, only because cashing out made better sense. The interest on loans will kill you!

If you are paying more in interest on your loans than what you are gaining on interest in your savings, then deplete you savings (whatever method you've chosen) and pay off those high interest loans and you will be money ahead. Then, the secret is to pay yourself back by tucking away the original mounts you were paying for all those loans and secure it in a simple saving account AND do not touch it!

 

[Kirk]

In my experience, internet forums have never been a very good source of investment advice.

 

[Oldgator73]

In my experience, internet forums have never been a very good source of investment advice.

I don’t think most here are giving advice. I think they are just relaying their experience.

 

[Utclmjmpr]

You are correct,,,My experience has been applied in such a way that I have had NO contract type bills for the last 25 years.. Everything I own is mine paid with cash My property,, home,,cars,,trucks,, motorhomes and Annuities have never had a time payment attached to them,, or a dime of interest,, ever... I don't even know what my credit score is because I don't care...>>>Dan