Want to know what I'm doing about the market gyrations?

[brooklynite]

Nothing.

Every two weeks, I invest the max allowed into my 401(k) and 457 accounts. Every month we invest some of our savings in our mutual fund package. If the market goes down, we end up with more shares. If the market goes up, our shares are worth more.

[wasupaloopa]

1. No matter, in this market you are still losing asset value

I don’t have much savings but it is in a credit union. I get a small amount of interest and the cash is always there.

[IronLionZion]

3. You don't gain or lose anything until you sell

[wasupaloopa]

6. That's true but on paper there is decrease in value. People will see lower

values on their annual reports. Thus less value in assets.

[IronLionZion]

13. When inflation is higher than interest rates

your money loses value in the savings account.

But in stocks and bonds and other investments, broad diversification can help minimize losses and set you up for long term gains if you keep buying more on a regular basis when prices are low.

[still_one]

9. unless of course the company goes broke

[IronLionZion]

12. I gave up on individual stocks years ago. I stick to mutual funds.

So much less stressful

[still_one]

14. I was just providing an example where someone could lose without actively selling

[IronLionZion]

2. Definitely dollar cost averaging for retirement accounts is the way to go

Also good to have an asset allocation target and then re-balance every few months to get it back on target. Balanced mutual funds will do this automatically so it's very easy to enjoy life and forget about what the markets are doing.

[Turbineguy]

4. This turd is in Trump's pocket.

The Big Money Boys are taking a hit too because of this clown.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. If your time limit is five years or longer you're likely fine.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Good points. I do recall back in the depression years (late 1920s-1930s, not me specifically) ...

that banks and individuals brought into the markets massively in order to divert the downward trend. Didn't work. Markets still went down massively.

The advice of investing the same dollar amounts each time period (don't over-react) seems to be the safest approach.

[Lochloosa]

8. +1. And don't panic sale.

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. Everything is about timing....

I had substantial capital gains from the sale of a property at the end of 2017. My gut told me the market was going to be a bit off so I put it in a safe account and would be satisfied for now getting a moderate interest on it. Damn glad I did as I would have lost money if I had put it in funds like my IRA's which have dropped in value.
I will wait until this whole mess from trump to an overvalued market subsides then I will get in.
If I had received that money a few years ago it would have been in the market and I would just suck up the losses because of the previous gains like pretty much everyone else but, in the end, my timing was off so I will wait.
By the way...I am 65 so yes I have some time to let it build but I certainly can't think like a 40 year old either.

[ooky]

11. I used to do that.

Its a good strategy for people who have the time for the market to recover. I dollar cost averaged most of my last 25 years of working and that worked out great. But now that I've retired I am living off the value of my fund's dividends, so I can't afford this kind of loss in value. So I took my post 2016 election gains and have been sitting out since the first big slide of last year.

[GusBob]

15. I prefer to make money the old fashioned way: I earn it

hard work and sweat equity seems to work fine by us. I'll be damned if I give my money to some strangers to piss away. If I am able to work hard I am happy to see the results of my hard work

[progressoid]

16. Bwahahahaha.

A lot of Americans also do nothing. Mostly because they can't afford to.

40% of U.S. adults say they don't have the money on hand to cover a $400 emergency, according to new data from the Federal Reserve Board. Rather, to pay an unexpected bill in that amount, they would need to borrow the money or sell some belongings to scrounge up the cash.

...

One-fourth of non-retired adults have no retirement savings or pension whatsoever.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2017-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201805.pdf