Fucking stock market can kiss my ass

[LeftyFingerPop]

Sideways.

[slackmaster]

1. So, what's your plan philboy?

Sell your depressed stocks now so you can lock in your losses and be super extra bitter about it?

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. I know better...

It's too late to sell.

[Warpy]

8. Look at it this way

You still own everything you did before the crash. Any stocks that produce dividends will continue to do so, and you should concentrate on the stocks that do.

I knew what was coming last year. I toyed with the idea of stashing everything in multiple bank accounts, T-bills, CDs and whatever until the market shook out, but I realized that none of that stuff was a whole lot safer, given the scope of the disaster and the fact that the market won't stabilize completely for another 2-4 years at the minimum while financial institutions continue to fail.

My income hasn't decreased by gritting my teeth and riding the disaster out, although I fully expect it to before this thing is over. I watched my dad develop ice water in his veins every time the market crashed and decided to do likewise. The only thing I've lost is numbers on paper, generated by hedge funds pushing paper around to pump its "value" beyond reason to keep paper billionaires convinced they were getting richer.

My maternal grandmother rode out the crash and Depression. She and my mother ate oatmeal 3 times a day in the worst of it, but she kept her home without taking in boarders and enough stocks survived to make her quite a comfortable woman when she died in the 50s.

There is no right or wrong way to go through a crash. I'm doing what worked in my family. Nothing we do will be 100% safe because we don't know in advance what will survive and what won't.

[DJ13]

9. You still own everything you did before the crash.

......as long as the company you hold stock in doesnt go bankrupt.....

[slackmaster]

11. Let me tell you about a statement I got in the mail yesterday for a self-directed IRA

An account to which I rolled over the assets of the 401k I had accumulated over eight years at my previous job.

To within a few dozen dollars, the positions I hold in several different assets are almost exactly the same as they were when I opened the account on February 19, 2001. Every bit of earnings I had seen since then, wiped out.

My current 401k has a higher proportion of bond funds and such, so it hasn't been hit quite as hard, but almost.

We're all in the same boat, except a few very savvy and lucky people who are mostly close to retirement, who moved into less volatile assets before things started going to shit.

We are in this together.

[Crankie Avalon]

3. Joe Scarborough, is that you?

:P

[TahitiNut]

4. It seems to be getting low enough to do so.

:dunce:

[Demobrat]

5. If you itemize and need some losses to offset income

now's the time.

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. Unfortunately, it is all in what is left of my IRA. n/t

[wroberts189]

6. insider trading .... eom

[Mike 03]

10. Yeah, it's not been a good year for a lot of people.

Thankfully I moved mostly back into cash and cash equivalents in February, but I did get a pretty good haircut on the equity portfolio. A few things I sold on the way down, but I'm also doing a little bit--a very selective, little bit--of shopping right now. I'm going to hold onto my losers because they are so low right now (including Sirius). Some other posters had a great idea about selling and taking them as tax writeoffs. My investment manager helped me do that--it's a bit over my head.