Anyone Investing While the Market is Down?

[Mr Grumpy]

All this money stuff drives me insane...

I also had money go south in 08, money that I had in a private pension; the company went bust, but then they government came in, after a few years something happened and I think I have some monies in it that'll come to me in 2026; not much, but better than nothing.

My parents sold a house in Spain a couple of weeks ago and needed to send the money back to the UK, my brother is one of those psychopathic traders and advised them on it; the pound plummeted against the euro just at the right time, so my parents were fortunate, made US$50,000 more than they expected by transferring at the right time. You can see the chart here, they were very lucky:



They ended up changing the money in the last couple of days.

I have a bit of cash, not loads, not enough to buy a house, but a bit that I could invest, so chatted to the brother the other night (something I usually try to avoid...), and he went on about bond yield inversion charts, and the fact that recent data shows 80% of current company share investment is by their own senior management team and driven by them pushing their own share prices up, using their own company money, to get their large bonuses - screws the companies, ends in many lay-offs but the top brass get their large bonus payments... Other stuff he went on about, basically saying that it's a race to the bottom and there's a long way to go yet. Thus, if I were gonna put some money into the markets then I wouldn't be rushing into it yet.

 

[eSGEe]

I lost way more than 1/2 a million in the 08 crash --(because Im a multi tasker I tossed a DIVORCE in the mix the same year!! )
I just (just was) about to see light at the end of the tunnel in 2020 -- but -- got laid off from 1 of 2 full time jobs--- in Nov of 2019 ---

so far Ive kept the boat afloat -- but this LOVELY NEW unforseen GIANT P.I.A. virus might just see me getting to find out what bankruptcy FEELS like-- as (all ready) requests for quotes and sales meetings have all but dried up --
we have work for the next couple weeks and I have bids OUT -- that would (if won) get us through another month or 2 tops-- but...............................then what?
could pawn/sell/ ferengi gear for another months existence------


I think MOST of America is paycheck to paycheck --- "staying home" w/ no pay for 2 weeks = economic disaster -- that will not be "felt" for a month or 6 to come -- but it WILL be felt globally --

 

[Vox AC30]

Last one .. and I ain't proud to admit it but I lost everything except my truck, wife's car, and family … almost everything I previously worked for. Kept my family together and all my gear. The only way I got through those years was the high powered 60' Tweed Twin and the 58' Tweed Bandmaster, along with a pristine as new, 61'SGLP and case ! 2 Arbiter Red fuzzfaces, and a couple of rare Magnatones! Raised about 100K which did nothing except survival. My brother, who is pres of a bank on wall street said " I'll say it and I'm only going to say it once, never again, but everybody knew what they were doing and what the ramifications would be, me, I get my orders from the top and there's no way for me to know if the information they feed me is right or not! " End of conservation. I said , so they did some economic engineering with dice? Again he said " End of conversation! "
What really pissed me off is everybody who could took out the max amount of money out of their house and bought cars, jet skis, expensive Dually Trucks, vacations and whatever, while I put every $$$ I had on that house! Then, calling around for jobs all I got was " well, you sound pretty good, and know what ya doin, but I gotta tell you your the 38th person who called me just today! Then I knew …. especially after all the biggest Vintage Vulture Buzzards in VG were calling me to see what's up ? and " If I'm alright " ! Yea Right … Hell, I went outside, looked up and they were all circling my house. I need to tell you a lot of the foreclosed properties were bought by, you gussed it, Wall Street Hedge funds and they made a bundle on them. But such is life. …. 5 years ago an ambulette Truck rear ended the bride and myself, I was the passenger, while waiting for a red light to change! Again, such is life ….. Todays Special … No extra charge for the bad grammar or miss spelled woids!

 

[SG John]

I'm just hoping thing don't turn to crap. We're having a mandatory company meeting Monday afternoon that I have to tune in on my phone or laptop from the customer's location. Can't afford to get laid off or be told I can only work under restricted circumstances. Fortunately, I don't really need to be around other people while working. I just have to deal with the broken machines, and fix them. As long as we have a false economy making weapons and nothing else of real use, I'll have a job. With airplanes grounded, there goes the aerospace sector. No airplanes flying, no broken parts to replace. American manufacturing has been a farce the past twenty years or so.

 

[Vox AC30]

Good Luck Monday John!

 

[iblive]

We were fortunate in the 08/09 debacle. While I did get laid off and even though my wife is a teacher on teacher wages...... she’s been at it long enough her wages had finally climbed to a decent place. Between that and my unemployment.... we managed to stay afloat. But it was close. Had I not got hired at my current business when I did, this story would be the same as many of you. Ultimately all that truly got killed was not getting to pay into a 401 at 50 cents on a dollar for a couple years. While my 401 was never going to be big..... I was a late bloomer on contributing..... I have no doubt it would be double or more what it is today.

Mostly, life is good. So far I have my heath. Hopefully this corona virus doesn’t bite me. A loving wife of 42 years. Amazing family. Grandkids I would kill over if someone messed with them. I have a few guitars so when I getting really pissed at things I can go get lost in my mediocre playing.