What did the smart pension money do when values dropped in March/April?

pip895

I rebalanced toward equity and managed to get to a slightly higher equity percentage at the bottom of the market than I had at the begging of February.  My equity percentage then increased further as equity recovered and I rebalanced again in October to return to the ~65:35 percentage I had originally.  

Selling in March and heading for safety would have been madness.

cloud_dog

ZingPowZing said:

cloud_dog said:

I was fortunate, I had cash on the side, so jumped in.  I (we) still have cash on the side and I have sold some of the March invested investments but, that is due to the strategy/timeline (re-balancing back to cash percentage) being applied to this (these specific) pot(s) of investments.

Great aftertiming.

Ummm, well, after due consideration my response is.... whatever.

[Deleted User]

Way to go “us”!  Still, isn’t it remarkable that everyone on this board has nerves of steel and had the foresight to sell before the crash and buy just before the recovery?  I am wowed! And truly humbled. 

Scrudgy

I did nothing, my pot is 100% in global equities in my company scheme. I lost 25% due to the covid crisis, but it all returned quickly enough thank goodness. It is now 13% up compared to November last year.

stephenadarglas

Scrudgy said:

I did nothing, my pot is 100% in global equities in my company scheme. I lost 25% due to the covid crisis, but it all returned quickly enough thank goodness. It is now 13% up compared to November last year.

Worth reminding ourselves that there is no loss or gain to a portfolio until that loss or gain is realised. 

WYSPECIAL

Used spare cash to buy shares I fancied that looked cheap, historically paid good dividends, and that I would be happy to keep long term. Bought and sold, at a profit, some of them several times as the price bounced around. It was more of a bit of fun when there was little else to do than serious investing though.
For the bulk of the portfolio I did nothing.

Radiantsoul

I did nothing and stayed 100% in equities.
I was comfortable with the drop, and was more surprised by the recovery. I would not be surprised if there was another dip, but don't think I have the skills to time it and so will stay as I am.

AnotherJoe

OldMusicGuy said:

GWhat did I do? Nothing. I retired just over two years ago and set up my strategy to protect my portfolio from large downward falls  (at the expense of missing out on rapid growth during recovery). This was the first time that strategy was tested, and it worked for me. 

Sorry if this sounds personal, but your question implies you may not have the mentality to lose the certainty of a DB pension and replace it with the uncertainty of a DC investment. You sound like you think you can "time" the market. Just make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for if you go ahead with the transfer.

^^^^^^^ this
OP has too many misconceptions especially regards timing the market. Will likely be better off in his DB unless the multiples are crazy. 

[Deleted User]

The clever people made returns of a 100 fold
https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/03/25/billionaire-bill-ackman-100-fold-return-on-coronavirus-hedge-2-billion/?sh=29edac716fcc
Personally, I came out of cash and went 100% into equities, I wasn't timing the market, I just happened to be in cash at that point in time

fred246

I went on holiday.