Wow.  What an unexpected trading day (by me).  The DOW up over 1300 points is not what I expected.  I'm thinking that there is a lot of buying at "discount prices" right now.  I just don't know how much it's going to be sustained.  I would like to see a "moderate" day either way tomorrow either up or down.  By "moderate" I mean a move by the DOW in the +/- 100's of points rather than the +/- 1000's of points.  Fridays are usually a "consolidation" kind of day in the markets plus there are a bunch of margin calls coming due.  I really don't want to see a wild swing one way or the other.

(03-26-2020, 11:24 AM)HURRICANE!!! Wrote:

(03-25-2020, 03:32 PM)jagibelieve Wrote: Take my opinion as just that.

There are two trains of thought that come to mind.

I bought in just a bit last week and it's doing decent, but I only have small positions right now.  The difference is I'm moving money in a regular brokerage account rather than a 401k so I can back out at any time with the click of a mouse (real time not having to wait until the end of the trading day).  The approach that I'm using is to buy-in in steps.  We are seeing another day (so far) to the up side which is what I like to see.  Depending on how the rest of the week plays out I may take another step in and increase my position(s) and/or perhaps buy some other things on a moderate down day.  I don't want to buy-in too fast with too much risk and end up with another wild swing down.  I am confident that what I have bought right now is going to do well long term so the small portion of my portfolio at risk right now is kind of a "hedge" against another major down turn.

On the other hand, if I am in a 401k, especially if your company matches I would probably be a bit more aggressive.  You are buying stocks at a deep discount right now.  If your available choices offer sectors I would look to that rather than an index fund.  There is nothing wrong with an index fund and I do invest a portion of my portfolio in them, but certain sectors tend to beat the indexes every year.  By the way, one of the index ETFs that I do tend to buy shares in also is a S&P 500 fund.

The thing is to focus on at least a year out.  Don't worry so much about the day-to-day moves or even week-to-week moves in the market.  Look more towards the 52 week number.  I happen to watch the market daily because a very small portion of my portfolio is individual stocks and I want to keep track of them.  I bought a small position (100 shares) in Micro$oft last Tuesday at around $135 or so a share (I was hoping to get in closer to $130).  It pulled back under that for a couple of days but is now up over $150.  Depending on conditions when it has a moderate down day I'll probably improve my position.  It's a company that will eventually get back to it's 52 week high of around $190 and it pays a good dividend.  It's just not going to get back up there until Q1 of next year or possibly later.

Again, this is just how I look at it and how I invest.  I am by no means a professional money manager and as I said, take my advice/opinion however you want.

Great info above.  I don't know enough about Brokerage Link to go that route today but I did just switch most everything over to the S&P 500 fund just prior to pulling up your post  (so I was glad to see you were on the same page).  My thought process is those companies can now absorb ~ 3 months of instability and are still a long way from their record highs.  Each day I feel like I'm making the move a day or 2 late but then when I look at how little we've climbed up the V, I still see there is still a long way to go (and profit on the way).

** fingers crossed !!!

If you are dealing with a 401k (which is what I assume) being aggressive is the right thing to do, especially if your company matches your contribution.  An index fund is going to rebound and eventually go up over the long term.  While most every company in that fund is off of 52 week highs, they will eventually recover (for the most part).  You are buying shares at discounted prices.

As I have stated before, I really like the tech sector and if your 401k has a fund weighted towards tech I would explore possibly investing in that as well.

I moved to IRA(s) a while back because due to the nature of my job I had several 401k's from working for different contractors (I've held the same job but worked for several different companies).  I consolidated them into my own investment accounts and have managed them for a while, especially since the last few companies that have held our contract had crap 401k plans and no matching.  I personally have both a traditional as well as a ROTH IRA for myself and my wife that I manage and regularly contribute to.  I feel that I have done well to this point as far as making investment decisions and managing the funds.  It does take a lot of work and a lot of research.

Once again as I have stated many times before, I am by no means a professional investor so take my advice however you want.  I'm just telling you what I would do right now.

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