I’m a young investor. I wasn’t investing during 99-01 or even 08-09.
This is probably the most I’ve seen my portfolio drop over a month…ever.
However, at one point, I think my portfolio was up over 100% YTD. That’s the only reason it’s dropping so much.
I’m currently sitting at a 50% return YTD and I’m learning there’s truth to the idea that the pain from losses is far more impactful than the joy from gains.
Here’s what I’m proud of.
I have not sold out of the market and went to cash. I am staying fully invested with the money I won’t need for the next 3+ years.
Here’s what I’m not proud of.
I think I’m checking the market and my portfolio far too much. I also think I’m spending too much time thinking about investing.
My portfolio would probably perform just as well (or better) if I lowered the amount of times I checked the market by 75%. I know for a fact my quality of life would improve.
So that’s my goal and lesson learned.
Keep investing every month as I auto-contribute my monthly contributions and spend less time focused on “the market”, more time reading about great businesses (not their returns), and the most time engaged in things I enjoy most in life…family, friends, outdoors, etc.
**Investing definitely allows me to have more time to do the things I love, and more freedom, but if abused, it can become a detractor.
41 Likes
Good to hear. And yes this drop is hard. I’m 51 and have been through both 99-01 and 08-09. But this current drop has been brutal on me. And the biggest reason is I only got into this high growth stuff in early August. At the top. Right before the big drop. So I saw little of the gains you guys see, just a lot of pain. And frankly, that’s making this drop harder to deal with for me. I’m sitting at 15% YTD gain (not bad if you think about it), with a high of 30% at end of August.
I did sell out of a few things. NTNX I lost my patience on. Sold a few other high growth holdings like TTD. Hung on to MDB (because I really understand them). Held onto WIX and OKTA (partly because they are also Stock Advisor picks). But TWLO, ZS, I admit I don’t fully understand them, and I’m taking big losses on stuff I don’t fully understand.
And, like you, I check my balances and performance way, way too frequently. Its a very hard habit to break. I tend to be able to do it only on vacations, or business trips, where checking balances would be cumbersome to do.
Trying to convince myself that I just have the bad luck of the timing as to when I got into this but questioning if this investing style is really right for me.
My lessons learned are never panic and have a good reason to sell something. And don’t invest in something you don’t fully understand just because “the numbers look good and so many smart people are making a good case for it.” Doesn’t matter if Saul likes it, or Tinker loves it, etc. If I don’t understand the stock I won’t be able to handle a pull-back. I’ve seen NVDA drop 22% from its high and I don’t care. But NTNX does the same thing and I don’t like it. Guess which company I understand… 
15 Likes
One thing to keep in mind…
I read somewhere that most stocks normally fluctuate 40%-50% up or down in a given 12 month period…I guess what that means is volatility is normal and to be expected…
What is not to be expected: Stocks that continue to make 52 week highs daily.
Keep your expectations realistic, be patient, diversify enough to make yourself comfortable, and hold on tight…
7 Likes
I started investing in 1990 in mutual funds. I found the Fool in 1999 and realized then that little old me could buy individual stocks. So, I sold my funds, opened online brokerage accounts and bought 16 positions.
It was fun watching them go up, but painful to watch going down.
I found Stock Advisor in 2005 and one of my first buys was Netflix.
I held through the great recession. I’ve never made a lot, so I rarely had new money to add back then with two kids and such. I did get Apple in 2009 at a split adjusted $12.78. I still have most of those shares.
Fast forward to now. A month or so ago, I sold some positions and added to or opened multiple positions in companies from this board.
The recent market fall hasn’t really bothered me. I hope it falls more so I can get some even better prices.
I plan to sell more positions over time and slowly transition into holding larger positions from this board.
Fool on,
mazske
All positions are listed in my profile
4 Likes
Good to hear. And yes this drop is hard. I’m 51 and have been through both 99-01 and 08-09. But this current drop has been brutal on me. And the biggest reason is I only got into this high growth stuff in early August. At the top. Right before the big drop. So I saw little of the gains you guys see, just a lot of pain. And frankly, that’s making this drop harder to deal with for me. I’m sitting at 15% YTD gain (not bad if you think about it), with a high of 30% at end of August.
Yes, I am about your age as well and was also investing during both crashes you cited. I also didn’t make as much as others here with the run up in certain stocks popular on this board. I moved into them over time and they weren’t the bulk of my portfolio. I also had a number of Chinese stocks I was late on dumping - I made some gains but these were very diminished by the crash in Chinese tech stocks. Now, many of the stocks I’ve developed larger positions in are crashing too. The overall market hasn’t pulled back that much but tech stocks popular here are all off about 20-30% or more (probably an average of about 25%) in just over a month. That’s a huge pullback in a very short time.
So I share your anxiety. I also don’t have a deep understanding of some of these businesses. That increases my discomfort. But fundamentally, they are all doing well. So I remain confident that this is a temporary sell off. I also remain much more diversified than some here which has softened the drop some.
I will continue to monitor my investments closely and keep up on the overall opinions here and elsewhere. And I will try to remain fairly diversified so that I lose less sleep.
Dave
2 Likes
I would just like to offer some words of encouragement if there are others like me who only started investing this year.
I have two investment accounts, one is composed of the oft espoused Eft’s and a tiny bit of fixed income. I started that one in May. My other account is invested in 12 high growth stocks, many of which are discussed here. Started that one in late July.
Needless to say, the last two months have been pretty rough, I don’t have any large run up to fall back on, so my ports are looking at -5.1% and -10.3% returns respectively. Welp
I am not concerned at all however, I would like to reiterate what everyone else on the board is saying, these are great companies, and they will continue to impress. For the young investors out there who’s patience might be tested during this downturn, I implore you to stay the course!
In closing, invest money you don’t need for the next couple of years, invest in companies you believe in that have the numbers to back it, contribute regularly and don’t check the market everyday. Life isn’t all about investing, the NBA is back on and it should be a great season. Go Raptors!
WM33
4 Likes