[quote=stockstradr]I shouldn’t play with fire (day trade speculate on the up side in a nasty bear market).
Serves me right. i need to focus on capital preservation and hold onto my gains.
I estimate i gave up 3% to 4% of my portfolio in the last 24 hours with this foolishness.
At least, Thank God, I cut my gold exposure down at $900/ounce. I see gold is now at $833, having a fairly flat day.
So do I dump my long (2X on S&P500 and NASDAQ) positions that have cost me 4% losses in 24 hours, or do I hold out for a rally off the Fed rate cut?
Time to admit my mistake and run for cover. The fed rate cut (like passage of this bail out) is probably ALSO already priced into this market.
I need to stick with the fundamentals, stick with the sure bets: such as S&P500 dropping to 1000 within twelve months as the recession shows us how nasty it will be.[/quote]
Selfishly, stockstrader, please dump so my 401k and index portfolio can go back up…..:)
Seriously, unless your 55+ and planning to retire within the next 4-6 years, are you really worried about a 10-20% portfolio long holding in a s&p500 index??
Perhaps I’m a sheep burying my head in the sand, but I really don’t understand what people are so worried about when looking at there 401k’s, investments etc. Woes as me, my 401k is down 10%, woes as me, the indexes are down. Dude, if in say 10 years, things don’t turn around at the economy, it won’t matter if you stuck your savings in a a 4%cd OR of if stuck it into the equities market, because either way that USD will be WORTHLESS.
….Buffett is having a field day right now (though he’s been wrong in the past). Short of tucking away the rest of my mortgage principle amount in a shitty low interest account, and keeping a 529 account and savings account for my daughter’s future, and some emergency cash, everything else is in riskier invesments because for me, inflation is gonna bite big time, and we know that ain’t gonna just disappear.
In more simple terms,. For me, it’s about on average, are you less screwed, more screwed, or evenly screwed relative to everyone else? And in that regards, relatively speaking, that should determine what you need to worry about or not.
So let’s go my famous screwed-o-meter eval..
copied and pasted for your enjoyment…
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FLU’s Financial Assessment on How You’ll Weather this Economy……
1) Are you dependent on a “job” or “work(ie a business/self-employment” to pay “expenses”?
if yes, add 100 points to the screw-o-meter.
if no, subtract 1000 points. And by the way, fvck you.
2) Are you employed currently or getting paid to work right now?
If yes, subtract 100 points from the screwed-o-meter.
If no, choose one of the following
If you’re 50+years old in a non-tech field add 500 points
If you’re 40+years old in a tech field, add 1000 points.
If you’re a “manager” with no hands-on tech skills, add 1000 points.
If you’re an investment banker with 10 years of experience or less, add 1000 points
If you’re an investment banker with 10 years of experience or less in “creative structured investment derivatives”, add 1500 points
If you’re a “real estate professional or mortgage professional” with 5 years or less of experience, add 2000 points…and btw, my car could use a washing, thank you
If none of the above, add 200 points for your unemployedness.
3) Are you in good health?
If yes, subtract 100 points
If no, but have decent health care coverage don’t add/subtract anything
If no, and you’re health care sucks, add 100 points if your under 40.
If no, and you’re health care sucks, add 1000 points if your over 40.
4) Are you withdrawing from your 401k or plan to withdrawal from your 401k within the next 5 years?
If no, subtract 200 points.
If yes, select one of the following:
If you listened to your financial advisor(s) and put money into cash like assets as you neared your golden years, subtract 100 points
If you thought you could outsmart the system and left it into an heavy stock or a “high yield, high grade, leveraged bond fund”, add 1000 points, you dumbass…
5) Do you rent or own your home?
If you rent, subtract 100 points
If you own your home outright subtract 200 points.
If you “own” your home via a mortgage and have money covering your principle in full in a “safe” cash position, subtract 100 points.
If you “own” your home via mortgage, but don’t have enough money to cover your mortgage right now, add 500 points.
If you “own” your home via mortgage and refinanced more times than the number of times you had sex this morning, or have more mortgage creditors than you have children, add 2000 points (though that soon could be a -2100 point credit depending on how the bailout works)
6) Do you have “investment property”?
If no, don’t add/subtract anything
If yes, and it’s actually cash flow positive, subtract 100 points per property
If yes, but you’re cash flow negative, add 200 points per property.
If yes, but you have no idea what cash flow means, add 1000 points per property……Also, add an extra 500 points per property that is in Las Vegas, Florida, or California, you dumbass.
7) Do you have any outstanding car loans?
If no, subtract 100 points.
If yes,
add 50 points if you purchased a reliable appliancee
add 100 points if you purchased that luxury vehicle new
add 200 points if you purchased that luxury vehicle used and it’s german.
add 1000 points if you took out a heloc to buy that luxury vehicle, you dumbass.
8)Do you have any outstanding CC debt?
If no, subtract 100 points
If yes,
add 100 points if your total balance is $5000 or below and can’t pay it off.
add 100 points for each $10000 increment you owe on your CC that you can’t pay off
add 2000 points if you don’t know how to calculate
And btw, if you answered yes, my American Express holding thanks you.
9) Does your spouse work?
If no,
Add 100 points if he/she requires Toyota Camry-like low maintenance.
Add 500 points if he/she requires Lexus like maintenance, but otherwise reliable
Add 1000 points if he/she requires Mercedes like maintanance, and has quality control issues
Add an extra 1000 points if he/she requires routine trips to the body shop to realign aging parts, either because you don’t like or your spouse doesn’t like the appearance
Add an extra 1000 points if you heloced to finance the trips to the body shop and didn’t realize that if the only thing you cared about was physical appearance, a new car always looks newer than an old car no matter how times the old car gets repainted, you dumbass
If yes,
Subtract 200 points if he/she makes more than
Subtract 100 points if he/she makes the same or less than you
Add 100 points if he/she spends more than she makes….and BTW why is that???
10) Do you have any children?
If no, don’t add/subtract anything
Add 100 points for each child you recognize as yours.
Add 300 points for each child you swear is not yours but someone says is yours.
11) Do you have any vice habits?
If you don’t smoke or drink alot, eat out a lot, and you have a significant other,subtract 100 points.
If you smoke or drink alot and don’t own any sin stock, add 100 points.
If your addicted to any gourmet food/etc, add 100 points.
If pay for your “dates”, add 100 points per encounter….
If you provide dating services, subtract 100 points per encounter, and don’t forget to pay your taxes.
12) Do you have any student loans?
If no, subtract 100 points.
If yes, add/subtract 0 points if was in the medical profession and you practicing medicine
If yes, add 500 points if it was in the medical profession and you aren’t praticing medicine.
If yes, subtract 100 points if it was in the legal profession. And btw if you’re a lawyer, fvck you.
If yes, and it was an MBA at a top 10 school, add 100 points. Good luck finding a job on wall street
If yes, and it was an MBA at a not-so-top 10 school, add 1000 points. What, you thought the ticket out of the dot-bomb, was an MBA out of University of Phoenix? ROTFLAO.
If yes, and it was an engineering profession, add 100 points. And you thought you’d make more than the loan is worth in this profession? LOL.
If yes, and it was for a PHD, add an additional 100 points. Yes, no one except your professor gives a sh!t about your dissertation
If yes, if it was in a field like underwater basket weaving, shakespearian history, or some god unknown degree, add 2000 points. What were your parents thinking????
See, it’s all relative, if everyone is poorer, then everyone is richer, so relatively speaking, it’s all the same, relative to everyone else…
