So What's Happened???

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Glastoun wrote: »

FWIW, I think the people who have made money recently are taking it out, and the people who have money on the sidelines are putting it in, so once everything settles it will be back to normal. Whatever that is.

Maybe that but it also seems that if someone sneezes in America or China's mines have a wobble everyone suffers. Bloody miners sodded things up in 1984 when they were nationalised and on strike and even now they are sodding up the stock market.

Maybe this is sell in May and Fly away. Although I am keen and a new investor I just think of the awful time everyone had back in 07/08 during the financial crisis that left a huge gulf in the markets.

Perelandra

Try this:

Chart the FTSE 100 (or your index of choice).

Zoom out to 10 years.

See how much impact the recent losses have made.

vectistim

Every day it goes up and down and ends the day either up or down. Essentially nothing you can do about it, so you have the following choices:
1) Get scared and revert to bank accounts
2) Try and respond to every market fluctuation - that way madness lies.
3) Relax, go with the flow and have a cup of tea.

srcandas

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

I'm sorry everyone

Don't be sorry. There are many silent readers of these threads and from each discussion there is benefit to be had.

I find your struggles and enthusiasm quite stimulating. It balances well the boring 40 year 'tracker everything low cost is all that matters' ites. At least you're having fun

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Its quite odd because when you look at the FTSE from 1983/84 it seems there is a constant gradual rise in value. Then you seem to hit a period of mass turmoil. The dot com bubble and bank crisis. What was happening in 1983/84 to create such a smoother ride?

talexuser

Look at it this way:

If you fret over a 1% fall - what will you do when it falls 20-30% one morning during a major correction? Sell immediately at a huge loss?

If you can't handle the -20% and wait long enough for it to recover - you should't be in the fund.

If you look every day during a bull run and see nothing but increments then psychologically when it goes down it will just be a worse feeling. So don't.

grizzly1911

Just think of the punter with 100K invested. What do the ups and downs mean then?

Capital x2, x3, x4, x5 and think of the amounts then.

Of course they will have a diverse portfolio to cushion the lumpiness won't they?

grizzly1911

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Its quite odd because when you look at the FTSE from 1983/84 it seems there is a constant gradual rise in value. Then you seem to hit a period of mass turmoil. The dot com bubble and bank crisis. What was happening in 1983/84 to create such a smoother ride?

Probably the relief from what went before.

Maggie honeymoon period, Yuppies, red braces.

TCA

You mentioned on one of your many threads that you were pound cost averaging. i.e. dripfeeding monthly or whenever. The point of doing this is that you average out all the volatility and markets swings that you're commenting on every day. You seem to be attempting to time your monthly payments into the bargain. That'll drive you nuts and you can't do it anyway. If the regular ups and downs of your investments are going to distress you, then you maybe need to reassess what you're invested in. I'm a new convert to the passive approach and do find it difficult not to check my investments frequently, but I'm not about to start selling up as you appear to have done. Time to review and chill.....

2010

London follows what NYSE does and today`s futures show Wall St will open down, hence the Ftse is down here.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Friday, as markets awaited the release of U.S. economic reports later in the day, amid uncertainty over the future of the Federal Reserve's stimulus program.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.61% decline, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.66% loss, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.69% decline.