Current market carnage - anyone selling or buying?

C_Mababejive

I took some profits it the rather short lived small Santa Rally and i have just re-invested on the drop. Buy low,sell high..

enthusiasticsaver

I keep hearing from people who are much more experienced in investing than me that you cannot time the market. I therefore decided to start investing last year in a well diversified fund and not worry about the highs and lows. The lump sum I invested last April has not done well but I am still drip feeding monthly amounts of £500 into my fund and intend to continue with that this year at least but do no more lump sums. I wont need the money for at least 10 years I reckon so I am not worried about this year's bad start.

Mistermeaner

It's like that song from the doors. Not the one about lighting fires.

BrockStoker

Chickereeeee wrote: »

Which may be next wednesday or 5 years away. Nobody knows.

C

Not true. I know... it was today... for me at least

I decided to buy 11K of The Biotech Growth Trust, and paid significantly less for it than when I initially bought it last year. It may well drop more, but I decided to play it cautiously and divided up my remaining 38K of cash into one 11K shot and two 12K shots (leaving a bit of loose change for monthly income payouts from my portfolio) which will be used should there be further falls.

You are right, that the market might recover and not give me any more big dips, but if you have a fair selection of funds that are well diversified, then there should always be at least one fund that is down which is a good candidate for topping up, so I don't see this as a major issue.

BrockStoker

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I keep hearing from people who are much more experienced in investing than me that you cannot time the market.

I don't listen to people who tell me what I can or can't do. As I said before, I have found, even if my timing is not always perfect, the majority of the time my timing is near enough that it was worth doing. Luck perhaps? Either way I'm happy to continue what I'm doing (in moderation and with careful consideration) as long as it seems to be working.

Kendall80

BrockStoker wrote: »

I don't listen to people who tell me what I can or can't do. As I said before, I have found, even if my timing is not always perfect, the majority of the time my timing is near enough that it was worth doing. Luck perhaps? Either way I'm happy to continue what I'm doing (in moderation and with careful consideration) as long as it seems to be working.

It could be argued that 'timing the market' is just buying on bad news. Buffet terminology? Sell on the sound of trumpets etc. For instance right now woud strike me as a better time to buy in than last week (so I have). Of course it could fall further... much further. The further it falls then generally the more I invest.


A diversification into cash, bonds, property, P2P during high market periods does help with downside mitigation. In fact they've been my best performers over the past 30 days. Slightly longer term - 6 months my 2 highest performers being Woodford and UK property neck and neck at 3-4% up.


Somebody mentioned above they wouldn't mind a 'multi year' bear market. I too am also in the relatively early stages of my ISA/SIPP retirement planning strategy so I would echo that to a point. I wouldn't want those multi years to be multiplying too much though!

Thrugelmir

Pagg wrote: »

Even China will come round eventually

Who knows the what the true state of the Chinese economy. As no reliance can be placed on official statistics.

black_taxi_2

Bear?


The Dow peaked at 18,351 in summer 2015.

Previous high in 2007 was 14,093

BrockStoker

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Who knows the what the true state of the Chinese economy. As no reliance can be placed on official statistics.

Exactly why I sold all my exposure to it in early July last year. Too many unknowns and potential for continued extend falls. Very glad I did so considering the situation now. Also a bit disappointed since I was up by about 20% (after only having held it for a few months) before it started to tank, but at least I only made an insignificant loss with it rather than have my capital stuck in a fund that likely won't recover significantly for years.

JohnRo

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Who knows the what the true state of the Chinese economy. As no reliance can be placed on official statistics.

Are the western statistics or economies much better? Banks are in control of markets to a large extent, well until they lose control and the boom bust cycle repeats. Stats like GDP and CPI are little more than a political fiction.