Stocks on sale but aien't got no money to invest

[Scallywag]

Anyone else? I know this is probably time to buy but have NO money.

I do think it might be a good time to rollover some pre-tax money into ROTH except that I don't know if stocks will coast even lower in the next few months. I am absolutely expecting a correction to bring down these pricey valuations and I'd welcome it except that it's a bummer to have NO money to buy when stocks go on sale.

[Jluke]

VTI (Total US) is back to where it was mid-October.

my stocks like Apple, google and even Tesla probably haven’t hit an “on sale” price either.

People start to get interested in buying when prices are going down but even at that same price when the stock was going up there was no interest in buying.

part psychological

[Scallywag]

VTI (Total US) is back to where it was mid-October.

my stocks like Apple, google and even Tesla probably haven’t hit an “on sale” price either.

People start to get interested in buying when prices are going down but even at that same price when the stock was going up there was no interest in buying.

part psychological

I believe that when a stock goes down quite significantly, it's time to buy. One can always keep buying as it goes down which happens if you have investments on auto.

We just got off auto because we converted a bit of IRA to ROTH so we need to have enough to pay off taxes we'll owe. So for us, it's money that could have gone into stock but is being set aside for taxes instead.

[disneysteve]

We have plenty of money on hand that I could invest, and I have already put some of it in. I'll be putting in a lot more once the estate is finally settled and I get that chunk of cash. I thought that would have happened by now but it hasn't. We're right around 58% stocks and I want to get it up to around 65%.

[kork13]

I have been adding some extra to a couple stocks that have been particularly hard hit, that are down 10-20% over the last week or three.

I have a fair chunk of cash that I can invest, and I am interested in doing so -- I've got $22k set aside on cash for an eventual "next car" purchase. But inflation is running high and we've got no expectation of needing to buy a car anytime soon. It'd be nice to use that money more effectively.

Really, I could add as much as $40k-$50k, pulling from our travel fund & general savings stash... Though that would be less appealing, because frankly some of that is my "sleep soundly" slush fund above our official EF that I use to even out our monthly cashflow when needed. It's also the money we use to send DW it to Philly for her in-person DPT classes.

[srblanco7]

Wish I had more "dry powder" (aka - cash) to buy if things continue to "dip". Though it's worth noting that the S&P is still up more than 22% year to date and current PE ratio for the S&P 500 is still greater than 28 (12/3/21), which causes me a bit of pause as to whether the market is really "on sale".

[comicguy]

I did dump about 2000 into a few stocks that got beat up pretty bad last week and starting to see a small rebound in their price!

[jenn_jenn]

We wanted to increase our risk profile so I invested $15k literally a few days before things started going down. I still believe in the stock though and am confident it will rebound but darn! So I’m with you, I’d love to buy more but no money to do so this go round. Pretty much everything is already invested or our EF.

[Scallywag]

Wish I had more "dry powder" (aka - cash) to buy if things continue to "dip". Though it's worth noting that the S&P is still up more than 22% year to date and current PE ratio for the S&P 500 is still greater than 28 (12/3/21), which causes me a bit of pause as to whether the market is really "on sale".

I think the market valuations will continue to be high as long as interest on cash or CDs continues to be down. The current "dip" is due to the hysteria generated over the new micron variation of COVID and Powell's statements about the Feds deciding to "taper off" QE. The markets could still come back via a Santa rally the last week of December.

I haven't bought anything, despite anticipating a Santa rally, solely because of our upcoming tax bill. I haven't sold our existing holdings, either. But you're right that it is likely that 2022 could present us with better buying opportunities via news of an interest rate hike but who knows? Husband is still on auto on his 401K but we may "time" our ROTH IRA investments for 2022 even though I really should know better! We do not plan to max out his 401K next year because we want to shore up our down payment fund which may also cause us to lose buying opportunities so I'm kind of bummed out right now.

[kork13]

We do not plan to max out his 401K next year because we want to shore up our down payment fund which may also cause us to lose buying opportunities so I'm kind of bummed out right now.

I know that feeling very well, but do your best to ignore it.

I mentioned it in another thread recently, but in 2018-2020, I did the exact same thing until we were ready & able to buy our next (now current) home. We diverted money away from my TSP (401k equivalent) & socked away that money on the taxable side in preparation for buying our house in the summer of 2020. Once we did that (were actually able to buy the home outright in cash), I went back to maxing out retirement, and we're sitting pretty.

Just remember that you're working a plan. 1-2 years of not maxing your retirement won't shatter your ability to retire comfortably, and using that money toward a solid downpayment will put you in a strong, stable position for building up your wealth in other ways (including that 401k). You're making good choices!

[Scallywag]

I know that feeling very well, but do your best to ignore it.

I mentioned it in another thread recently, but in 2018-2020, I did the exact same thing until we were ready & able to buy our next (now current) home. We diverted money away from my TSP (401k equivalent) & socked away that money on the taxable side in preparation for buying our house in the summer of 2020. Once we did that (were actually able to buy the home outright in cash), I went back to maxing out retirement, and we're sitting pretty.

Just remember that you're working a plan. 1-2 years of not maxing your retirement won't shatter your ability to retire comfortably, and using that money toward a solid downpayment will put you in a strong, stable position for building up your wealth in other ways (including that 401k). You're making good choices!

Ah, thank you. But you see, we are late starters to retirement so that does give me cause for pause! In a real world, our income would be high enough to do both but it is what it is AND over the very long haul, the market always does come back up.

Technically, December is usually a good month to buy because that's when many people are selling to tax loss harvest. But this December sees our family on hard times, esp with a monstrous tax bill coming due in April, so no go.

We will not be able to afford to pay cash for a home here, but we do aim for a nice chunk of change in terms of down payment. However, I also have this awful fear that we'll see a correction next year, so not sure if it would be "safe" to plonk that money in the market also or better to just let it sit in a savings a/c somewhere until a clearer picture of the feds' intentions and the direction of the market in 2022 gets clearer. In other words, I'm looking for a crystal ball to help us decide the way forward.

Does anyone else here think a crash is due?

[srblanco7]

We will not be able to afford to pay cash for a home here, but we do aim for a nice chunk of change in terms of down payment. However, I also have this awful fear that we'll see a correction next year, so not sure if it would be "safe" to plonk that money in the market also or better to just let it sit in a savings a/c somewhere until a clearer picture of the feds' intentions and the direction of the market in 2022 gets clearer. In other words, I'm looking for a crystal ball to help us decide the way forward.

Does anyone else here think a crash is due?

I've been around long enough to know I shouldn't try to time the market . Seems like your "gut" is telling you there may be challenges with market returns in 2022, which to me would be an indicator to avoid the risk with the home down payment.

[Scallywag]

I've been around long enough to know I shouldn't try to time the market . Seems like your "gut" is telling you there may be challenges with market returns in 2022, which to me would be an indicator to avoid the risk with the home down payment.

Yes, while I may be wrong, I think we'll keep the down payment in a boring savings a/c