0Hi, and hugs to everyone who left a comment for me last week.
SCFR mentioned how some older folks may be in trouble because they never changed their asset allocation as their situation changed:
[url]http://scfr.savingadvice.com/2008/10/02/still-around_43742/[/url]
I think that hits the nail on the head for me, also. When we had two incomes, a higher total income, and cheaper health insurance, it wouldn't have been so painful to see the balance in my IRA drop over $800 in one day. I could have just saved harder for a couple of months and made up the loss. But the way things are right now, it could take me a year or more of scrimping to make it up, if it's possible to do at all.
Maybe it isn't just fear that makes me want to lessen my exposure to stocks, but good common sense. I've heard you shouldn't invest what you can't afford to lose--and right now I don't feel like we can afford to lose ANY of it.
Here's our asset allocation right now,
roughly:
Cash 46%
Bonds 36%
Stocks 17%
Only $6487 is easily accessible, i.e., cash and not in IRAs. Most of the bonds are non-IRA, but it's not like I can count on the values holding up if I needed to sell them. I have a GMAC thing that's lost 2/3 of its original value, although it's still paying me interest.
Honestly, I think I could sleep a lot better at night if I cashed it all in and just paid off our house!
Even if I sold the rest of the stock, it still wouldn't be accessible because it's all in my IRA. But at least I'd know for sure how much I had. I did sell my S&P 500 index fund last week, and I don't regret it. It only went down from where I sold it, and then I read that more S&P 500 companies cut their dividends in Sept. than ever before. That doesn't bode well.
Any thoughts?
asdf123
Hi, and hugs to everyone who left a comment for me last week.
SCFR mentioned how some older folks may be in trouble because they never changed their asset allocation as their situation changed:
Text is http://scfr.savingadvice.com/2008/10/02/still-around_43742/ and Link is
http://scfr.savingadvice.com/2008/10/02/still-around_43742/
I think that hits the nail on the head for me, also. When we had two incomes, a higher total income, and cheaper health insurance, it wouldn't have been so painful to see the balance in my IRA drop over $800 in one day. I could have just saved harder for a couple of months and made up the loss. But the way things are right now, it could take me a year or more of scrimping to make it up, if it's possible to do at all.
Maybe it isn't just fear that makes me want to lessen my exposure to stocks, but good common sense. I've heard you shouldn't invest what you can't afford to lose--and right now I don't feel like we can afford to lose ANY of it.
Here's our asset allocation right now,
roughly:
Cash 46%
Bonds 36%
Stocks 17%
Only $6487 is easily accessible, i.e., cash and not in IRAs. Most of the bonds are non-IRA, but it's not like I can count on the values holding up if I needed to sell them. I have a GMAC thing that's lost 2/3 of its original value, although it's still paying me interest.
Honestly, I think I could sleep a lot better at night if I cashed it all in and just paid off our house!
Even if I sold the rest of the stock, it still wouldn't be accessible because it's all in my IRA. But at least I'd know for sure how much I had. I did sell my S&P 500 index fund last week, and I don't regret it. It only went down from where I sold it, and then I read that more S&P 500 companies cut their dividends in Sept. than ever before. That doesn't bode well.
Any thoughts?