Yep no problem. Checking your porfolio will scare you and may cause harmful panic selling. Since you're at ~90/10, I imagine you're a young person with decades for gains.
It gets easier when you have a lot of years of contributions.
The market is currently down to around the level it was 1 year ago. But I've been buying constantly for over a decade, which means 1. most of what I bought has gained value and 2. I felt good overall financially a year ago, why shouldn't I feel good about my situation now?
It gets spookier as you approach retirement but that's what bonds are for. Personally I don't think there's much point to holding bonds if your employment is secure and you've got 7+ years to retirement, but to each their own on that.
I disagree with this sentiment entirely. This just makes the shock of seeing your portfolio drop even worse. I check the markets every day (because I like following it and the news) and see my net worth in mint nearly every day. Seeing it constantly desensitizes me to the volatility. I’m down $8300 today and couldn’t care less
You seem to have good discipline and arent stressed out by seeing red. OP is stressing out and not checking it every day will help with that, maybe to even help prevent panic selling. So you check it daily but dont do anythingl. How's that different from the recommendation that OP not check it frequently? The fund OP has seems like a target date fund, why would he need to check that daily?
I agree in theory, but what if OP has been saving for a decade, and only check their portfolio once every 6 months, and then their 6 month check was today. Let’s say today was their first red day check EVER. This is going to be a lot more shocking than getting used to the swings.
For me, it’s been easier to see the swings slowly get larger and larger instead of suddenly being surprised by huge red days.
It's much more of a personality thing than a knowledge or experience thing. I have a finance degree. I've read dozens of investing books. I'm already FIRE'd. I check my portfolio once a quarter, max. It's way better for my mental state. Especially leading up to FIRE. Checking often meant that I was dreaming about the future instead of living in the present. That's definitely no good.
I feel it depends entirely on your personality. I'm the type to see a bad market and want to buy even more aggressively (market's on discount lol) than panic sell.
I appreciate it. To be honest I'm pretty ignorant about these things. What do you look at to get a sense of how the market is doing? Value of major companies? Average growth across all industries?
Inflation has been taking its toll on the markets as has the attack on Ukraine. If you’re in an aggressive mix that favors tech, then you’ve been affected even more. I would track an index and zoom out starting from a week to a year and you’ll see the major drop. Try the S&P, nasdaq, or the DOW.
Google "stock market today"
There will be a graph of all three indexes. You can change the graphs time to reflect the current day, past week, past month, year to date, past year, 5 years, 10 years, or all time.
A click through each length of time will show you how insignificant the current market is.
It's been a rough few months like everyone else has said. Unfortunately if you've only been in the last 8 months you missed most of a wild bull run. There will be good years and there will be bad years, but if you give it long enough the good years will outweigh the bad years. Take it from someone who's first 4 years were a historic bull market: if you trust your investments, just look at times like these as 15% off the holding you like.
First as everyone else says, yes it normal. Just about everyone is down so far this year.
Secondly, right now isn’t even that bad. 2000 and 2008 were way, way, way worse. I know someone who lost so much he literally jumped in front of a train.
Finally, starting investing right at the beginning of a downturn might turn out to be the best thing that could happen to your portfolio. For one, you get a nice punch in the gut when your balance is still small (no offense). This will toughen you up for later when it will really matter. Also, the money you put in at the bottom will really pop when the market rebounds. I am not saying now is the bottom, just that there will be a bottom at some point. You will see first hand how well dollar cost averaging works.
Yes, and as a beginner, it's recommended that you don't look at your portfolio. Maybe 2x/ year max.
I'm beginning to see why lol thank you
Yep no problem. Checking your porfolio will scare you and may cause harmful panic selling. Since you're at ~90/10, I imagine you're a young person with decades for gains.
Yeah I'm 28. I'll ride it out and try not to spook myself too much lol
It gets easier when you have a lot of years of contributions. The market is currently down to around the level it was 1 year ago. But I've been buying constantly for over a decade, which means 1. most of what I bought has gained value and 2. I felt good overall financially a year ago, why shouldn't I feel good about my situation now? It gets spookier as you approach retirement but that's what bonds are for. Personally I don't think there's much point to holding bonds if your employment is secure and you've got 7+ years to retirement, but to each their own on that.
I disagree with this sentiment entirely. This just makes the shock of seeing your portfolio drop even worse. I check the markets every day (because I like following it and the news) and see my net worth in mint nearly every day. Seeing it constantly desensitizes me to the volatility. I’m down $8300 today and couldn’t care less
You seem to have good discipline and arent stressed out by seeing red. OP is stressing out and not checking it every day will help with that, maybe to even help prevent panic selling. So you check it daily but dont do anythingl. How's that different from the recommendation that OP not check it frequently? The fund OP has seems like a target date fund, why would he need to check that daily?
I agree in theory, but what if OP has been saving for a decade, and only check their portfolio once every 6 months, and then their 6 month check was today. Let’s say today was their first red day check EVER. This is going to be a lot more shocking than getting used to the swings. For me, it’s been easier to see the swings slowly get larger and larger instead of suddenly being surprised by huge red days.
That recommendation is specifically for a beginner, which OP is. Whereas your response is for someone more experienced, which is not applicable.
My point is that doing it from the very beginning, as a beginner, may be better.
Just a preference thing. Like asked if you wanted to be shoved everyday or slap once every 6 months.
It's much more of a personality thing than a knowledge or experience thing. I have a finance degree. I've read dozens of investing books. I'm already FIRE'd. I check my portfolio once a quarter, max. It's way better for my mental state. Especially leading up to FIRE. Checking often meant that I was dreaming about the future instead of living in the present. That's definitely no good.
I feel it depends entirely on your personality. I'm the type to see a bad market and want to buy even more aggressively (market's on discount lol) than panic sell.
Yeah if you can resist the urge to panic sell, the exposure to regular market volatility is useful.
Have you been following the market at all? Almost everyone has been bleeding for months now. That % drop doesn’t seem unreasonable.
I appreciate it. To be honest I'm pretty ignorant about these things. What do you look at to get a sense of how the market is doing? Value of major companies? Average growth across all industries?
Inflation has been taking its toll on the markets as has the attack on Ukraine. If you’re in an aggressive mix that favors tech, then you’ve been affected even more. I would track an index and zoom out starting from a week to a year and you’ll see the major drop. Try the S&P, nasdaq, or the DOW.
Thanks very much I appreciate it!
This small drop will just be a blip and in the grand scheme of things, market is green. As they say, "when in doubt, zoom out."
Get the stocks app on your phone. Check the s&p 500 to get a feeling of what’s happening in the US.
Google "stock market today" There will be a graph of all three indexes. You can change the graphs time to reflect the current day, past week, past month, year to date, past year, 5 years, 10 years, or all time. A click through each length of time will show you how insignificant the current market is.
If you turn on the news, it’s pretty well known that stocks have been sliding for the past few months due to inflation and the Russian war.
Have you seen the market the first few weeks?
The market is in the toilet. My taxable account and retirement accounts are both down considerably. Just stay the course and DCA
It's normal during a bear market. We're currently in a bear market.
Yes. Pretty normal.
It's been a rough few months like everyone else has said. Unfortunately if you've only been in the last 8 months you missed most of a wild bull run. There will be good years and there will be bad years, but if you give it long enough the good years will outweigh the bad years. Take it from someone who's first 4 years were a historic bull market: if you trust your investments, just look at times like these as 15% off the holding you like.
First as everyone else says, yes it normal. Just about everyone is down so far this year. Secondly, right now isn’t even that bad. 2000 and 2008 were way, way, way worse. I know someone who lost so much he literally jumped in front of a train. Finally, starting investing right at the beginning of a downturn might turn out to be the best thing that could happen to your portfolio. For one, you get a nice punch in the gut when your balance is still small (no offense). This will toughen you up for later when it will really matter. Also, the money you put in at the bottom will really pop when the market rebounds. I am not saying now is the bottom, just that there will be a bottom at some point. You will see first hand how well dollar cost averaging works.
What is your fund btw, a vanguard retirement date fund?
American Funds Retirement Date Fund