Down goes the Dow

Many retirees save and dream of traveling. That is low on our priority list, perhaps even at the bottom. Since we enjoy being at home this is at the top for us. Even though our medical expenses are greater with the infirmities of age, the actual cost via Medicare is a substantially lower percentage of monthly expenses. I view cash as the only reliable hedge on uncertainty, and a good % of what we have, That is probably about 15 years or more of cash needs beyond social security and pension income. That can also be deployed at any time. House and tangible assets can be sold if need be. That said my wife and I are very active, and plan to remain in our house until we croak, or circumstances force a change of plans.

Oh man I want to travel. But feel guilty for flying so I throw lots of money at carbon offsets and hope they work.

Other topic - I've been reading about iBonds. They seem to be the world's best investment.

no repayment risk

adjusted to inflation

better than market interest

no state/local tax.

Only catch is that you can only put $10,000 per year into them per person. So it takes a while to build a position.

And there's a one-year lockup.

Really....it makes sense as an emergency fund. Have to be careful in the first years while building a position to keep enough cash as an emergency fund. But once you get past the one year lockup issues...just keep cash there. I don't see the downside.

I just looked at Tesla's price a year and a half ago. Like around $85. It is now at $1077. Just crazy.

AMZN holders any thoughts on missing earnings this quarter? How long have you held?

I've held shares for over 14 months. Quite frustrating but not willing to dump quite yet.

AMZN wrote:

AMZN holders any thoughts on missing earnings this quarter? How long have you held?

I've held shares for over 14 months. Quite frustrating but not willing to dump quite yet.

I have shares dating back to 2016.

I haven't really looked at their results announced at close, largely because I've been reading up on Apple, which also announced, and also took a bit of downturn as a result.

Oh, well.

I am a long term holder and will remain so, in both cases.

danube steak wrote:

I just looked at Tesla's price a year and a half ago. Like around $85. It is now at $1077. Just crazy.

I was certain that it's introduction into the SNP 500 would be the death of its rapid ascent. It did slow down for a period, but it's back to behaving like its old self.

What a unique story. And still adding chapters to it, for that matter.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

The so-called growth of the last five years is a function of $Trillions in QE and Government spending.

So what? As an investor, isn’t the goal to choose investments that will grow in value?

I have decided to shift the 63k in my Roth into the top market caps. Right now it's a mix of hype meme stocks like RBLX, PLTR, NIO, SoFi, Z, etc.

I started with this Apple dip. In for 69 shares at $145. I will buy 3 shares of AMZN tomorrow if my cash settles by then. Too bad I missed the 5% dip after hours.

Here is our asset allocation with everything at all time highs, if anyone is interested.

House equity - 345k

401ks, Roth IRAs, HSA (mostly VTI) - 763k

Taxable brokerage (VTI) - 11k

Crypto - 107k as of now. Highly volatile.

Used cars - 25k

Checking account - 25k

529 for our son - 12k

So I guess we're technically millionaires but it sure doesn't feel like it with everything locked up in retirement accounts and the house. Even my crypto is locked up, as I have 23 ETH staked that can't be sold until ETH 2.0 comes out.

Johannes wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

The so-called growth of the last five years is a function of $Trillions in QE and Government spending.

So what? As an investor, isn’t the goal to choose investments that will grow in value?

Well tomorrow it will unlikely be AMZN and AAPL.😹

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Johannes wrote:

So what? As an investor, isn’t the goal to choose investments that will grow in value?

Well tomorrow it will unlikely be AMZN and AAPL.😹

Buy the dip!

investing noob wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Well tomorrow it will unlikely be AMZN and AAPL.😹

Buy the dip!

Really, one can't get too excited about this. Those two commonly move around a percent or two on normal days, and at the close of after hours trading, Apple was down just a little over a percent and Amazon 2.52% on the day, That's not much.

investing noob wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Well tomorrow it will unlikely be AMZN and AAPL.😹

Buy the dip!

Sure, like taking candy from a baby. 😷

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

investing noob wrote:

Buy the dip!

Sure, like taking candy from a baby. 😷

Nice metaphor.

Instead, choke down some Hussman, more bitter medicine for a sick, sick economy.

seattle prattle wrote:

investing noob wrote:

Buy the dip!

Really, one can't get too excited about this. Those two commonly move around a percent or two on normal days, and at the close of after hours trading, Apple was down just a little over a percent and Amazon 2.52% on the day, That's not much.

Apple was down 5% when I bought at $145.00. That's significant for the largest market cap in the world.

investing noob wrote:

seattle prattle wrote:

Really, one can't get too excited about this. Those two commonly move around a percent or two on normal days, and at the close of after hours trading, Apple was down just a little over a percent and Amazon 2.52% on the day, That's not much.

Apple was down 5% when I bought at $145.00. That's significant for the largest market cap in the world.

where do you think it's headed tomorrow? I have no idea.

seattle prattle wrote:

investing noob wrote:

Apple was down 5% when I bought at $145.00. That's significant for the largest market cap in the world.

where do you think it's headed tomorrow? I have no idea.

It was trending back up already after hours. I don't think it drops much more.

investing noob wrote:

seattle prattle wrote:

where do you think it's headed tomorrow? I have no idea.

It was trending back up already after hours. I don't think it drops much more.

yeah, i saw that and was a bit relieved. Apple almost went positive but then gave it back, at least partially.

Futures are looking somewhat bleak, but with any luck, some of that may have already been figured into Amazon's and Apples after hours drop.

We'll see.

seattle prattle wrote:

investing noob wrote:

It was trending back up already after hours. I don't think it drops much more.

yeah, i saw that and was a bit relieved. Apple almost went positive but then gave it back, at least partially.

Futures are looking somewhat bleak, but with any luck, some of that may have already been figured into Amazon's and Apples after hours drop.

We'll see.

I mean my plan is to hold this until I retire, so I'm not worried if it drops some more. It will always go up in the long run.

investing noob wrote:I mean my plan is to hold this until I retire, so I'm not worried if it drops some more. It will always go up in the long run.

I think that may be a very risky assumption if you are only thinking about a single stock. Always? I dunno…

Now if you are talking about a diversified basket of holdings, or better yet index-tracking funds, I think the chance of always going up in the long run is much higher. Of course the potential payoff is also lower…