This is a fun thread; I'll take the bait and reply.
I'm at a 2, really enjoying the ride, and not bitter. However, my wife and I have benefited from reading the wisdom of this forum from the beginning. We sold our house at the peak, renting it back from the fool who bought it. We moved that equity to China where we bought a big condo which has doubled in price (plus a 10% currency move). We remain renters, now live in Bay Area and have nice salaries to match. Both our retirement portfolios were aggressively Bearish of the market when they should have been, so today the account numbers look fantastic. We are making good progress saving for the housing market to hit Rock Bottom, planning to buy a SFH then at discount.
The sole remaining event needed for me to reach a Level 1 is that anticipated "Day of Total Panic" where stock markets fall so fast inside a trading day they hit the hard stop maximum downside limit and trip the "Circuit Breakers" freezing trading during that day. I expect too see that dark day of panic within six months and I expect it to involve at least a TEN PERCENT total drop in two trading sessions or less. I plan to make a large amount of money that day.
This forum, oddly, seems to still have some permabulls who spend their days spewing flaming posts against the die hard Bears like me.
I offer this sincere and friendly advice to those permabulls, because I do want you to be happy and prosperous.
This economy and stock market is in a nasty evil vengeful mood. It is a runaway train headed downhill now at breakneck pace. This train is going to roll over you and shred your retirement portfolio if you stand on the train tracks like a naively optimistic glass-is-half-full PermaBull.
Get a clue. On the NASDAQ alone we have seen a 9.7% decline since Dec 26th, less than ten trading days.
My advice: get on board with us Bears and make some money or at least move your entire portfolio out of stocks. Do it because there is not a single reason for a Bull Market, and every reason exists for a dark nasty Bear Market that is now upon us with a vengeance.
Oh, and am I bothered by the flame posts?
When a man sits on the floor counting as much gold as I've won in the market in the last ten days, a few gnats flying around the room are not noticeable.
