I'm glad I moved most of my investments out of the stock market 3 months ago.

[MoonRiver]

When a Dem takes the White House, and it is clear we have maintained, hopefully increased, our majorities in the Senate and House of Reps, I'll put it back in. Should see nice gains as I buy low, right after the election, and wait for the usual Democratically engineered recovery. The only time to invest is under a solidly Democratic government. Rethugs get an F in finance.

JMHO.

[Rosemary2205]

1. IMHO the big money elite don't care who's in the WH.

they are likely just about done sucking the life out of the USA anyway and ready to move on to China.

[MoonRiver]

2. Well, not being "big money elite" I can tell you that I care about my relatively meager investments,

I certainly do not trust Rethug governments to protect my financial interests.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. We can't take ours out

without taking a big hit from the IRS. They've got us coming and going. Our stockbroker did say, however, that things were bound to get better after the election. I sure hope so because our retirement money is vanishing before our eyes.

[Individualist]

4. I moved mine out of mutual funds when the chimperor was first inaugurated

[CoffeeCat]

5. If I can ask...

...where did you put your money?

We're looking into moving all of our 401k $ out of American investments.

Many are saying that we'll know hell has arrived when the bond market
starts tanking. That's supposedly a big indicator that we're headed
toward Depression-like circumstances. Do you have any opinion on that?

What's an investor to do?

My husband is pretty pragmatic and less suspicious than I am. I've been
telling him for many months we need to get our money into other accounts.
He's now saying that I was right, and we're researching our options now.

It's almost scary to have him agree. He's a real bellwether for me. If
he's on board, those "centrists" who tend to dismiss the perceived-"Chicken Little"
stuff---are not too far behind in deciding to reallocate their money.

I'll have to listen to Bob Brinker this weekend.

Any input or insight you'd like to share is most welcome.

[MoonRiver]

7. Right now it's in a money market account.

It's my 403b investment from work. My husband put the majority of his retirement money (much more than mine) into somewhat less safe, but mostly not stock market related, investment accounts years ago, when the economy first started tanking under dimson. I felt like I could handle more risk, since it wasn't the bulk of our estate, but became totally fed up 3 months ago. We DO NOT and never will trust the Rethugs with our money.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. It's kind of hard for me to move mine out of my 401K.

So I think I did the next best thing by putting it into a natural resources mutual fund. Every time the price of a barrel oil goes up I'm making money.

[Dorian Gray]

14. You can keep it in a 401k

but not incur any penalties by switching investments into a cash equivalent. CDs or something like that until the market settles down.

[NashVegas]

18. Check Into IRAs

Traditional & Roth. If your employer isn't contributing, it'd be another matter.

[mnhtnbb]

8. Last time I made a major move out to pocket gains (May 06) I paid dearly for it

when tax time rolled around. Used up the capital loss carryover for several accounts.

Didn't make a conscious decision to get out this time--too busy fighting with insurance and mortgage
companies over our house that burned down last August.

But, yeah, it hurts to see the value of stock investments down about 10% in a matter of months.
But I've seen it go up and down, down and up, on a regular basis over the years, so I hope it comes back up
again before too long. I hope we're not in for a 5 year bear market.

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. I moved them out in 2000 and started a business.

Now I don't have to worry about losing my job and it looks like this year I will be able to give others a job.
Of course that's traded for the stress of having your own company.

[Johonny]

10. Me

I'm dollar cost averaging through the drop. So I won't have to try and "time" the market.

[Zywiec]

16. Most people don't know what Dollar Cost Averaging is

and think they are smart moving their money out of the market. A little lesson is finance goes a long way.

[David Zephyr]

27. Your dollar cost averaging would do better by saving and waiting 3 months.

IMO, we are in for a spill.

[ladjf]

11. You are either very smart, very lucky of both. Congratulations!

[MoonRiver]

15. Actually, lazy.

I moved from one company to another, and while I was deciding what level to invest at, my money was parked in a money market account. Well, I just have never gotten around to making that decision and now I am very glad. I'll just keep it parked, thank you very much, until the Dems take over.

[ladjf]

21. It's funny how some of life's great events were due to flukes.

[MoonRiver]

25. Yes, indeed.

[Swede]

12. Ride the rollercoaster and make money.

http://www.the-privateer.com/chart/dow1.html
http://stockcharts.com/charts/historical/djia1900.html

[krispos42]

13. I'm glad I'm just starting my 401(k) now...

Getting in on the ground floor... :-)

[NashVegas]

19. FYI

Don't invest in any fund that has more than a 1% expense ratio.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22654723/

[krispos42]

20. I'll check that, thanks

:-)

[A HERETIC I AM]

22. What if every fund offered in the 401(K) has a higher expense ratio?

Then what?

[NashVegas]

23. I'd Get Out

If my employer was regularly contributing, I'd keep what was in there, but reduce my contributions to a minimum. Or I'd move it out to an IRA and ask my employer about the possibility of profit-sharing, in lieu of 401(k).

I'm not the expert, Sullivan is, and he's pretty convinced that 401(k) fees are a major suck-hole. His claim is that many of the managers are taking up to 30% of the returns with their ratios.

[A HERETIC I AM]

24. Well, there are plenty of reasons for using a 401(K) and plenty against, I suppose

One of the most attractive features is the much larger amount one can contribute on an annual basis compared to a traditional IRA, on the order of 3 times the amount for 2008.

Regarding fees, one question to ask yourself is "what is a reasonable rate of return?"

If the answer is - say 10% and the fund has historically averaged that over time, what difference would it make what the fees were?

If your answer is 20%, again, what difference would it make if you were getting 20% but the fees were 2.5%?

It is all a matter of perspective, I think. If a person has the time and the inclination to do the proper research and construct a portfolio on their own and then manage it over the long term, that person should go for it. If a person is not so inclined, (and most people aren't) then you have to expect to pay for management.

[Xithras]

17. Kinda wish I had.

These losses are rather painful. It can't last forever though, so at this point I'm just holding and praying for a turnaround.

[David Zephyr]

26. I got out in May except for utilities. I missed some extra profits, but I'm happy I'm out.

And there's no way I'm going in until I see this thing looking safer than it is now.

It's going to really get nasty.