So I have a 401K but I was thinking of opening an Ameritrade or Schwab account and dropped a couple of K in there just to get a little “buy low” action, but the big question would be, when will rock bottom come? It doesn’t appear to be soon (days).
“but the big question would be, when will rock bottom come?”
I think there will some good days and some more correcting. I think once the virus hoopla fades or appears to stabilize buying will come back. My concern is all the co’s hurt by this airlines, travel, entertainment and supply chain folks said good are drying up soon as China is not making anything and co’s in the US are drawing down their inventories.
Going to be interesting.
Be prepared for a “dead cat bounce”, then a return to negative returns on an accelerating pace. People are such panicky creatures when it comes to thinking outside the box.
The medical profession will get a grip on this novel coronavirus problem, and with luck, the Lord willing and the cricks don’t rise, the nation and the world will struggle up from the ashes of this eruption and rebuild the supply chains once again, this time with an eye to permanence and reliability.
My father’s take was that the true bottom in a market was indicated when it went, not up, but sideways for a time...like all the poison was expelled, nobody knew what to think or do anymore, and the market was looking for cues.
I was thinking May or June, but I'm usually wrong about such things.
“but the big question would be, when will rock bottom come?”
I have a 401K also. I move my 401K to safe havens also. I will not move it back to the main market until the supply issue looks like it be address. I think the big corporations will have to diversify their factory locations. A lot of this already started with the China Trade war last year.
The item: will China economy recover? It was a paper tiger before this.
You only invest what you can afford. I will take a couple of K also and buy low also after the false bounce. Wondering if the Market needs to drop another 3000 points before bottom. Predicting bottom is the hard part.
Looking at averages, and there is a sudden drop of 20-30% on an otherwise sound stock, good time to buy. Even if it goes further down, still a good margin coming back.
One of the greatest investors of all times said he never tried to guess a market top nor a bottom, he was content on being in 20% from the bottom and out 20% from the top. I believe we have not seen the bottom here but I began buying on late Friday. I don’t think today’s opening bounce is a trend. Panic in financial markets from non financial matters (war, politics, plague etc) is quite difficult to gauge so I try to pick low beta stocks hopefully on sale. All IMHO.
Ask a friend or relative with a Schwab account to send you such a link if you do decide to go this route.
“when will rock bottom come?”
No one knows. You can’t time the market. But if you want to get close don’t worry about hitting the absolute bottom but look at momentum.
I could be wrong but I don’t see this as a repeat of 2008. In 2008 you had systemic problems. Here we have a temporary China problem that will remedy itself within a few months.
Having said that markets can overreact and we may have more to go. If so — a gift horse buying opportunity.
I took half of my cash and invested in some great stuff on Friday CHEAP!! I have my 401K which has taken a beating BUT I went through Ameritrade and got some GREAT deals!!! I think the market will be back up in a few months AND I wanted to do my share to help the market freak out!!!
It will rebound soon and begin a run up to 4,000. THEN it will collapse.
Always buy when the blood is on the floor. Incraments if you want to catch a possible lower point. But now gives you a very nice return when this snaps back.
Two of the biggest point gains in history in 2008 were followed by an additional 30% decline over the next several months, until the bottom in March of 2009.
Anything can happen here. Today was wonderful, but it was just a single day.