Anybody buying on this downturn?

[disneysteve]

I wasn't necessarily planning to buy anything more extra other than my normal 401k contributions and monthly taxable contribution but thanks to COVID, our spending is down quite a bit. We've got some extra cash so I'll probably make an additional deposit into our taxable account. I put an extra $1,600 in in February when things dropped down. I can probably send in another $2,000 this month. I'll split it between the S&P 500 fund and our high yield dividend fund.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I'll admit i sold off last friday after the gains of since march. I pocketed a bit in my taxable account left some stuff on the table, kept 401k and Roth invested. If there is another rally I'll sell more in my Roth. I think I'll buy more berkshire. So money going in about $5k/month DCA into 401k. But I didn't see the point of having more money riding in our taxable account. I also sold off the girls ESA and moving it from VTI to VOO when I think we've bottomed which I don't think we've hit yet. I did it because it had huge rebounds from March. I locked in some gains and I can't add anymore to DCA in. I throw in $2k/year lump sum. I also moved their 529 into TIPS and if the market bottoms I'll dump into VOO vanguard for them and move it back in.

That's my plans for being a little safe, continually investing. I am not ready to just keep sinking more in. Putting in at least $5k/month seems like a good plan. Plus stashing cash in case the housing market collapses enough to make it worth buying an investment property.

[Snicks]

I bought several energy stocks xom, BP, VLO and CXO and took a gamble on Delta Airlines. Remains to be seen if that was smart!

[kork13]

I've got a bunch of lower-market orders still active from the last 3-4 weeks... Only 2-3 orders (of probably 20 total) have gone through, but I still see some downside in the market, so I'm leaving the orders in place.

Well, with the 2-day down stroke, I had 7 orders finally go through -- 10 orders executed this week so far. So I've picked up another ~$2500 in various ETF shares.

[Jluke]

I bought Wellington (VWELX) in my taxable account ($39/share)

I am also going to start $150/month recurring investment in VWELX.

not tax efficient but I started with 3k and it’s not like the bond part is outperforming.

[scfr]

Yes, we did. DH wanted to make his 2019 solo 401(k) contribution to a 100% stock fund instead of the usual conservative balanced fund. When he mentioned that he was thinking about it, I raised the "what will this do to our asset allocation" discussion but finally decided to go ahead and just give him my blessing for a variety of reasons that included his psychological well-being, my trust in his gut instincts, minimal impact on the AA, and the knowledge that even if he was wrong it wouldn't tank us financially. He didn't make any changes to his previous contributions. He mentioned that he might want to play around with a little stock trading, but that seems to have only been talk as he hasn't mentioned it for awhile.

I don't necessarily recommend this for anyone other than us! The Boglehead in me knows this wasn't necessarily the proper decision, but as a wife it was.

[disneysteve]

Has she considered working community college? There's a lot of demand for English teachers & ESL teachers these days but they do require a Master's degree.

Nah. Not her thing. She loves working with younger kids, and doesn't really have any desire to be a classroom teacher. That's why preschool and the swimming instruction are both great for her.

Hopefully the swim school will survive and reopen when this whole mess is over.

[Scallywag]

Thanks for asking. She's fine. She is not teaching preschool anymore. She left that job at the end of the school year back in June. She enjoyed the work, but not the job itself. There were a lot of issues there. Since August, she has been working as a swim instructor and life guard at a children's swim school. It's a national franchise (Goldfish Swim School). Great company to work for. Great people. They treat everyone very well and she really likes it there. Of course, they shut down due to COVID so she hasn't worked since 3/13 and has no idea when she'll be going back. They did lay everyone off so that they could file for unemployment, which she did.

Has she considered working community college? There's a lot of demand for English teachers & ESL teachers these days but they do require a Master's degree. She could study part time, if she wanted to, and is guaranteed a job at graduation. Just an idea aa the job is stable, long term and qualifies for pension (although CALPERS isn't doing too well, so not a great benefit for folks who are CA public servants). Lots of paid breaks too, that she can spend as she wishes. She may want to consider it. Glad she's doing OK.

[disneysteve]

Steve, how is your daughter doing? Is she still working preschool? I am assuming she has been "furloughed" as everyone is home?

Thanks for asking. She's fine. She is not teaching preschool anymore. She left that job at the end of the school year back in June. She enjoyed the work, but not the job itself. There were a lot of issues there. Since August, she has been working as a swim instructor and life guard at a children's swim school. It's a national franchise (Goldfish Swim School). Great company to work for. Great people. They treat everyone very well and she really likes it there. Of course, they shut down due to COVID so she hasn't worked since 3/13 and has no idea when she'll be going back. They did lay everyone off so that they could file for unemployment, which she did.

[Scallywag]

Just Federal ones or private ones, too? I imagine the banking industry lobby would fight tooth and nail against allowing it for private loans.

Steve, how is your daughter doing? Is she still working preschool? I am assuming she has been "furloughed" as everyone is home?

[Scallywag]

We are going to probably add student loans to bankruptcy. Right now they aren't dischargable. but soon I wonder if we'll have to. I also think that a lot of businesses were running on loans and this could trigger serious closures.

On another forum where this is just being discussed, those who DID pay off their students are furious that those who didn't are "going getting a fee ride".

My concern is different. If student loans are forgiven or dischargeable in bankrupcy, then the bad debt will simply be passed on to the tax payer as we, the people, guarantee these loans. Sorry, I don't want to pay for someone else's schooling.

[disneysteve]

We are going to probably add student loans to bankruptcy.

Just Federal ones or private ones, too? I imagine the banking industry lobby would fight tooth and nail against allowing it for private loans.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We are going to probably add student loans to bankruptcy. Right now they aren't dischargable. but soon I wonder if we'll have to. I also think that a lot of businesses were running on loans and this could trigger serious closures.

[Scallywag]

It makes sense to cut costs and preserve business. But no one can predict right now how long unemployment will last and how much will rebound asap. That I bet can't be priced in right now because we had such a long bull market that I wonder if inherently this recession will extend because it was also overdue? And the cuts now are easy ones. But what about all these startups, tech companies, etc who haven't done the white collar layoffs? Is it coming? And if it comes do we end up like the 2000 dot.com burst? Will a lot of these small companies go out of business and those workers will also be in line? And for how long? Will VC and investor money still be easy in 6 months?

Questions that I don't think economist have any clue. I mean look at weworks, uber, and lyft. I see unprofitable business models and I wonder will we finally crack them because of it? Will investors no longer tolerate sinking more and more money in?

I think leverage / debt & the long bull market run made even unprofitable businesses stay afloat. When the tide came in, they've been caught skinny dipping and I expect things to go rapidly downhill from here. Funding will likely disappear for new ventures and many unprofitable businesses will go under when money evaporates. States will struggle to pay unemployment benefits and may even declare insolvency. This is going to get really ugly really soon, unfortunately. I expect the student loan "bubble" & household consumer debt "bubble" to also burst and at least one too-large-to-fail bank to go under as defaults rise and liquidity dries up. The Feds have been pouring BILLIONS of dollars into the repo market since September, and *that* was already a warning sign, even before the pandemic was even a thing!

I am very very very afraid.

As Steve says, Dave Ramsey is probably saying, "I told you so", with every breath he takes. I am going to continue to DCA (as I only put in small amounts, anyway) but I am afraid that we may be in a Greater Depression soon.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It makes sense to cut costs and preserve business. But no one can predict right now how long unemployment will last and how much will rebound asap. That I bet can't be priced in right now because we had such a long bull market that I wonder if inherently this recession will extend because it was also overdue? And the cuts now are easy ones. But what about all these startups, tech companies, etc who haven't done the white collar layoffs? Is it coming? And if it comes do we end up like the 2000 dot.com burst? Will a lot of these small companies go out of business and those workers will also be in line? And for how long? Will VC and investor money still be easy in 6 months?

Questions that I don't think economist have any clue. I mean look at weworks, uber, and lyft. I see unprofitable business models and I wonder will we finally crack them because of it? Will investors no longer tolerate sinking more and more money in?