Markets - Minor Correction? (Edit: Question Answered)

quirkydeptless

DairyQueen said:

How many tins have you stockpiled?

Just use the ones stockpiled for the Brexit Apocalypse

aroominyork

You may be right in much of your analysis of the health systems, political and economic aspects of the virus, HardCore. And you may be successful in your selling and (perhaps more to the point) re-buying timings. Even those who advocate a 'hold tight' strategy - as the vast majority of people on this forum do - would have to admit that some people sometimes successfully market-time, and may reduce corona-related losses by selling and re-buying later. If the market drops 20% and you sell 5% off the top and re-buy 5% off the bottom, you would still have halved your losses. Time will tell, eh?

There is only one change I am thinking of making. My EM exposure in active funds is split between Vanguard Emerging Markets and Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Sustainability (the latter is about two-thirds EMs; it's a slightly more midcap-focused version of their larger 'Leaders' funds). I may move all of the former into the latter. A couple of reasons. First, I would be selling Vanguard's overweight China and buying Stewart's overweight India; India is less embedded in global supply chains and much less reliant on China than the West, so is less exposed to the economic impacts of corona. Second, the Stewart fund (which I was anyway thinking of topping up in the new tax year) has a history of steady growth and low volatility. Between 2010 and 2016, when emerging markets barely moved, the fund doubled in value.

Username999

I expect more volatility/uncertainty until at least November.
The major threat being Bernie Sanders.
There will be relief rallies along the way IMHO.     

Novice_investor101

My strategy is to just carry on as normal - no selling & my regular monthly investments buying into the same funds as usual. I'll be getting a few extra units this month. 
I have requested for a lump sum to be paid out of my premium bonds after the next draw to put into my ISA to buy in now the unit prices are a bit lower. I'll get that next Friday & will buy in regardless - this is the spare cash I was saving to take advantage of the next correction/crash. It will probably go lower still, but I don't need the money for a couple of decades & still hold a fair whack of cash. Business as usual. 

segued

I made my first investment on wednesday, so I'm way down already but I'm looking to keep invested for 20+ years so not too concerned.

If it drops again Monday I'll put a bit more in.

DairyQueen

The last thing I would do during a correction would be to sell equities. The 'this time is different' mantra from the sellers strikes me as irrational (panicking?). Recipe for disaster. Hats off to the newbies who are taking their lead from history and holding or buying. 

Unless I missed something, a new social order replacing capitalism is not packaged with coronavirus. The markets were well overdue a correction. The catalyst just happened to be a virus but could have easily been something else (e.g. Bernie Sanders in the White House).

To those who think they can time the markets: good luck with that.

Thrugelmir

DairyQueen said:

The last thing I would do during a correction would be to sell equities. 

Depends on ones own portfolio. Might be a very long time before an individual share price recovers.  

Stargunner

DairyQueen said:

The last thing I would do during a correction would be to sell equities. 

I sold a lot of my equities on Monday morning, but it certainly wasn’t because of panic. This correction has been expected to come for a while and with the coronavirus I expected the markets to drop heavily and I expect them to drop even more,  It was a gamble, but because I thought that a big drop would occur  I would rather sit with my cash protected and buy in again when the threat from the coronavirus subsides. I am already about 8% better off by selling them, but if I am wrong and the markets don’t drop anymore then so be it.

DairyQueen

Stargunner said:

DairyQueen said:

The last thing I would do during a correction would be to sell equities. 

I sold a lot of my equities on Monday morning, but it certainly wasn’t because of panic. This correction has been expected to come for a while and with the coronavirus I expected the markets to drop heavily and I expect them to drop even more,  It was a gamble, but because I thought that a big drop would occur  I would rather sit with my cash protected and buy in again when the threat from the coronavirus subsides. I am already about 8% better off by selling them, but if I am wrong and the markets don’t drop anymore then so be it.

I suspect that your problem will be determining when to buy back-in. Chances are that you won't be able to time the point at which the markets swing to a prolonged recovery unless (of course) you know something that the professionals don't.

Stargunner

DairyQueen said

I suspect that your problem will be determining when to buy back-in. Chances are that you won't be able to time the point at which the markets swing to a prolonged recovery unless (of course) you know something that the professionals don't.

I don’t have a crystal ball and I may buy back in just before an even bigger dip. I just thought that a big dip would happen and it will get a lot worse before it starts to recover so I made the decision to sell. So far it has paid off but if the markets jump up 10% on Monday I would have made a mistake.