Is it time to liquidate your investments?

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I am a day trader and this is a great market for making money.

However if you are a long term investor and you think things are going to hell simply buy gold and VXX (VXX basically shorts the S&P 500, if the market goes down, VXX goes up.)

The dollar is strong though so Gold has been pretty steady.

Lots of cheap good companies out there... you can buy January calls on AAL, CCL, DAL, RCL etc.. just a small recovery will make you money.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) has a lot of cash and is cheap at this price. Oil WILL recover.

People who think the market is a crap shoot do not know the market. In the history of the market, if you have bet long term on the market you have made money.

if you wish, you can put your money in bank notes and CD's and make maybe 2% per year... or you can buy a fund that tracks the S&P or any other index and have the opportunity to make some real money.

Investing is like cruising. you can keep your boat at the dock where it is save, and just dream. Or you can take the risk of sailing to someplace you want to go and reap the benefits. No risk, no reward.

Live a little.

M
 
Ken E. said:
Only sell at this point if you want lock-in your losses. IMO.
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Or take advantage of tax loss harvesting that can be an advantageous strategy if after tax $ accts.
There are restrictions but also ways around many.
 
A chair

You may want to know theirs a chair to sit your butt on when the music stops. I'm sitting on 10% of the portfolio invested in travel stocks. Sold everything else over the last 2 months. Some of it ahead of CoVID. Now I’m buying a boat with some of the proceeds. Just saying.
 
There is no right or wrong answer to the original question, as each individual are at different points in their career/retirement, has different income levels, and feels comfortable with different levels of risk.

I'm eligible to retire (60) but plan on retiring in 2 years. My retirement account (only part of my planned retirement income) only had a minor amount invested in the markets, tied into the S&P. I'm bearish on the markets, with a world-wide recession pending, and have moved all of my retirement funds out of the market portion of my retirement account, accepting a 2.75% paper loss in the process. When the time feels right, I'll likely move some of the monies back into the market.

My strategy for my very personal situation.

Jim

p.s. And just for clarification the 10% tax penalty (not the taxes themselves) is only for withdrawals made under the age of 59 1/2.
 
Would liked to have been out of 1/2 of our property by now but it hasn't happened.
No need to sell , tenants paying rents over and above any holding costs but was wanting to free up some cash for getting into something that didn't require maintenance.

Got the feeling now that a couple of the cheeky offers we had should have been accepted.
Ain't hindsight grand (-;
 
If absolutely necessary to pull out it seems like mid summer would be the good point.

Nobody knows for sure.
 
Digital currency, just mint more money!!! Can you spell huge inflation?? And that is assuming the stimulus works.
Scarey times............ and then there is the virus.
 
Warren Buffet sold all his airline holdings. Around 7 billion!!
 
Group9 said:
THis. This is my fourth stock market crash in my lifetime (1987, 2001, 2008). It always comes back.
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IT ALWAYS COMES BACK
How many people died as a direct result or because of those stock market crashes? (except punters jumping off the balcony)
Did hospitals and health care become overwhelmed?
Did food supply chain become stretched and under threat of failure?.
 
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Nickair said:
Warren Buffet sold all his airline holdings. Around 7 billion!!
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Yes, he did. They went against one of his principles with the amount of debt they had. Then seeing them going deeper into debt and seeing a poor future outlook, he decided to sell and admit his mistake. They owned about 10% of all four airlines. His forecast is a lot of extra airplanes and the airlines go crazy with price wars and no profitability.
 
bogranjac1 said:
IT ALWAYS COMES BACK
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The question, however, for many investors is when? Next year? Three years? Ten years?

If one is considering taking out money (retirement or some other reason), then when becomes a very valid concern.

Jim
 
JLD said:
The question, however, for many investors is when? Next year? Three years? Ten years?

If one is considering taking out money (retirement or some other reason), then when becomes a very valid concern.

Jim
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And being too heavily invested in stocks is generally unwise when nearing retirement.
 
BandB said:
And being too heavily invested in stocks is generally unwise when nearing retirement.
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It really dopes depend on your sources of income post retirement. If you have company pension(s) and social security, then keeping your IRAs, Roths and other investments in equities can work. So long as you feel you can downsize you living to the level supported by your pension and SS for a period if there is a downturn.
 
menzies said:
It really dopes depend on your sources of income post retirement. If you have company pension(s) and social security, then keeping your IRAs, Roths and other investments in equities can work. So long as you feel you can downsize you living to the level supported by your pension and SS for a period if there is a downturn.
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I think in terms of 10 year time periods. Am I OK not to touch it for ten years?
 
Back in 70's when the market shifted I as a younger man and unknowing, panicked when (Due to old technology) not able to contact my brokerage for a couple of days and when I did I sold everything. At that time our holdings were of some size and with the delay in making that contact we lost a ton of investment value. to the extent we have declared the annual loss for investment amount of $3,000.00 from that point to this year and have several deduction years to come.
We have recovered and are not fearful as long as President Trump is our leadership. That is not an endorsement just reality that his capitalistic instinct appear to have a positive effect on the market.
I would add that due the result of losses we incurred we sought what we believe has been the largest factor in our recovery, that of investing in dividend stocks exclusively, allowing reinvestment to enhance the individual stock value gains.
So in a word, 'taint going to happen' in this house:thumb:.

Al-Ketchikan

GFC said:
I got a text this afternoon from a person who I feel is a fairly knowledgeable investor. He's made quite a pile of money by being prudent, investing wisely and paying close attention to what's going on in the world.

His text said that he's thinking seriously about liquidating his entire portfolio within the next month.

I'd be lying if I said that thought hadn't crossed my mind. I'm still fully invested but giving some thought to pulling the plug. I know all the tales about "you don't actually have losses until you liquidate" but given what's going on in the world, what are your thoughts? Is it time to pull the plug, go to all cash and sit on the sideliines?

What say you?Is
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Al said:
I would add that due the result of losses we incurred we sought what we believe has been the largest factor in our recovery, that of investing in dividend stocks exclusively, allowing reinvestment to enhance the individual stock value gains.
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Agreed! I'm a strong believer of dividend stocks. I like to take money off the table and invest it in other stocks. Also believe that paying a dividend also shows that the company has the investors interests as part of their business plan. Only about 10% of my stocks aren't currently paying dividends.

Ted
 
By way of an FYI, I trasferred my discretionary account from my former employer to E*Trade due to their zero commissions on stock and ETF trades.

Since then I have looked closely at each of the investments in the account. I hadn't done this before because it was being managed by my former partner.

I have found 4-5 investments (mostly mutual funds) that dropped when the market tanked a few months ago and have not rebounded as the rest of the stocks and funds have done.

One that I bought when the market was just starting to recover from the steep drop was Tesla. I was anxious to see if it gained today after the SpaceX launch.

Yup, it was up $63.10 per share at the close. I suspect it will sell off a bit tomorrow due to taking profits off the table but I think it will hold most of that gain.
 
Is this a buying opportunity? A number of corporations here are raising "capital" by issuing shares. Only one of the "big four" banks did,they issued shares to "instos"(institutions)before offering shares to existing "retail" holders, and by then the on market price was +$4 over the insto price, making for a deluge of applications they "scaled back",dammit.
Comment has been the little shareholders are buying, big investors not so much. A V shaped recovery, or a "dead cat bounce" Spanish Flu style. Time will tell. Eliminate or control Covid and given time, in theory the economy should restore itself... but these are uncharted waters.
Dividend stocks are good provided the dividends are properly funded. Doesn`t seem to follow real estate where rent return and values don`t always rise together.
 
I think the rebound is all illusionary and the wise thing is probably to sell. There is no reason for the market to maintain as we encounter more Covid 19, have record unemployment and bankruptcies and evictions, and have domestic strife and war. We haven't sold but are definitely contemplating getting out of the market while the getting is good. Only thing holding us back is thinking of the taxes.
 
BandB, I would add an "if" to your statement about selling now. Yes, things are up nicely and you likely could take some profits from the gainers and offset that by selling some that are still underwater and using those losses to offset the gains.

Now, the "if" part. If you are a long term investor with a timeline of ~5 years or more I wouldn't be so quick to pull the trigger. This market will eventually come back and continue its climb. Always has, always will. I've been buying a few things here and there. I joined Motley Fool awhile back and, while I HATE the flood of emails from them, I do periodically read one. As a result of one of those, yesterday i bought a few shares of Match dot com. (MTCH).
 
GFC said:
BandB, I would add an "if" to your statement about selling now. Yes, things are up nicely and you likely could take some profits from the gainers and offset that by selling some that are still underwater and using those losses to offset the gains.

Now, the "if" part. If you are a long term investor with a timeline of ~5 years or more I wouldn't be so quick to pull the trigger. This market will eventually come back and continue its climb. Always has, always will. I've been buying a few things here and there. I joined Motley Fool awhile back and, while I HATE the flood of emails from them, I do periodically read one. As a result of one of those, yesterday i bought a few shares of Match dot com. (MTCH).
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I predict a very serious decline and ten years to recover. Now, because we buy and hold and have had most of our stocks 5 to 7 years, sizable profits we would have to pay taxes on. I'm in the office working on our businesses today and perhaps will take time tomorrow to decide what to do on stocks.
 
I'm bullish on America but if the tide turns in the election, I'm out. I doubt that will happen but I'm prepared...just in case.

It's great hearing so many perspectives at a time like this from guys I "know" who have done it for years.

At the beginning of the precipitous bubble pop of 2007, I sold off to buy FlyWright...August 2007. It was my best ever market timing. Since she was a 30-year-old gal when I bought her, she didn't depreciate nearly as much as my investments would have in that period.

Sometimes you just get lucky...
 
FlyWright said:
I'm bullish on America but if the tide turns in the election, I'm out. I doubt that will happen but I'm prepared...just in case.
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Best money I ever made was during the Clinton and Obama years.

Not sure what you mean by the "tide turning," Mr. Moderator, but I also have great hopes for the tide turning in November, long term, sound markets, no volatility, global stability, and local markets viability.

And people being able to say alive and prosper - everyone by their means.
 
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The best money I have ever made was in market place disruptions. First there was the cell phone, then the internet, the smart phone, the cloud, streaming and now we have AI and 5G hitting at the same time.

I bought a stock called Fastly And Zoom on March 5, right before the market tanked, I have already doubled my money. It was too easy to see what had happened in China and Italy was about to happen in the US. While the market looks like it has recovered the truth is some stocks have taken off and others are still way down. I have no intention of getting out of the market but I am moving money around very carefully.

I used to be very pro S&P 500 index funds. For the next 5 years I Would not invest in such funds, I would be looking for those companies that advance the work from home or play at home experience as well as AI and 5G.

Another thing I have learned. People will skip a car payment before they will let their Phone get turned off. The world is changing, invest in the change.

I have been a subscriber to Motley Fool since 1994 when they were on AOL. They have an absolutely amazing track record.
 
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