People talk about the crazy and unique times we live in. There's COVID-19 of course (a global pandemic). There are protests and turmoil throughout the US, with some cities burning. US elections are coming up in a few months and tensions might explode higher.
This question is for people who were invested before COVID. You held stocks/bonds, maybe as an index investor, couch potato, or whatever. I would like to know if you think it's best to remain fully invested now, sticking with your existing plan?
'Fully invested' means sticking to whatever strategy or plan you had before. For example if you were 100% in a balanced fund, 'fully invested' would mean sticking to that balanced fund. If you were 100% equities, then it means remaining 100% equities.
I would generally stay the course, but in turbulent times trade around positions a bit more aggressively. For example selling a few puts if the market drops below 3000, more aggressive rebalancing, etc.
I'm surprised that so many people (in poll responses so far) are staying the course. I've spoken with a few friends since COVID happened, and many of them have made big changes to their investment plans in reaction to the crazy times.
There are only 18 votes cast so far best I can tell. I think the 'early' voters you have attracted are self-selecting, i.e. those who remain decisive and confident in their investing goals and strategies while the majority of members have yet to pick themselves up off the floor or are frozen in time. The poll results will/could look very different by the time it closes on Dec 29th this year.
The financial sub reddits, blogs and youtube channels are also filled with people who made changes or plainly screwed up (including people in comment sections). Maybe the people who hang around this forum are more level headed, but this is surprising.
On the flip side, maybe we're the dumb ones and are hoping for a future that might not come hahaha. Only time will tell.
I personally have a 30-40 year time horizon until I plan to tap into my investments, so for me it's just a big sale at the investment store and as long as the overall trend of the next half-century is upwards I'm smiling.
I answered "more cautious". I have most of my money invested and I don't intend to change that. But I have a fairly large cash component from the sale of a rental that the PLAN was to DCA into the same basic mix of investments over a 12 month period. However, the instability of the current market has caused me to want to conserve cash and therefore I have slowed down, but not completely stopped, the flow of new money into my stock investment portfolio. Personally, I think there is a good deal of pain coming that is not priced at current levels and cash will remain king for a while yet.
I said no change from current plan BUT if there is another significant thud in the next 6 months, I might swap out a few equity positions for something else like I did in March (swapped out IPL before the dividend cut for PPL). It will all depend on what it looks like at the time.
Absent a significant family crisis this year or a major consumer purchase or a major drop in investment* income (e.g. dividend cuts), my cash reserve (and FI position) is at target for a good 12 months forward.
* Next week I will do a 1H19 vs 1H20 comparison of investment income to see how big the downward trend in investment income is.
I increased my allocation to equities on the drop. Not really intending on rebalancing back until either a vaccine is out or perhaps markets are back at all time highs (reflected by S&P 500/TSX Composite).
Following our IPS. I believe the markets are being held up bythe low interest of The Fed which makes fixed income undesirable. Thanks to US high tech and LULU I have not net losses in the portfolio. So I am hard-pressed to make unwarranted changes when they are not warranted by the IPS.
I did authorize our RRIF withdrawals early and 25% lower just in case there is a further swoon towards year-end. They remain 85% equity.
I chose these times require a radically different approach since your poll selection is skewed towards your uber conservative nature james.
I, and many others, have substantially increased equity exposure as a result of this drop.
Depending on how/when you invest each year and your portfolio allocations an increase equity holdings really came along for the ride. I delayed my main yearly purchases from Feburary to late March which resulted in me buying more equities to maintain balance.
Unless the market crashes again (aka buying opportunities), my investment portfolio is going to ride the waves for the rest of the year or possibly the next 5 years. Will have another look around Christmas time.
I selected adjust and become more cautious. What that means for me is to resist the desire to deploy cash until Q3. I don't intend to make any major changes but am watching the market closely as I can. Something I tend to do anyways. That amount varies based on how much time I have available due to workload, family time etc.
I said some changes..... I think this fall when covid returns, markets will freak out....
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