VTI YTD is 15%

[EasyMoney00]

The only possible upside to using an advisor is having someone who can talk you off the ledge at times like these and convince you not to sell it all and move to cash.

^this. My parents have a FA and the dude literally receives funds from them, buys an index fund, and let's it ride.

When my dad dabbled in investing. He would constantly move money to different funds, then move them back, rinse/repeat. He wasn't capable of not screwing things up. Now, they pay someone whatever percent to make the purchases for them. Seems insane but a lot of people are like that.

For every one success story of someone timing it right, there are many others that screwed it up and would have been better off not touching it.

[disneysteve]

^this. My parents have a FA and the dude literally receives funds from them, buys an index fund, and let's it ride.

When my dad dabbled in investing. He would constantly move money to different funds, then move them back, rinse/repeat. He wasn't capable of not screwing things up. Now, they pay someone whatever percent to make the purchases for them. Seems insane but a lot of people are like that.

There are plenty of surveys showing that most investors underperform the indexes for just this reason. They trade too much, sell at the wrong time, and just generally are their own worst enemy.

If paying an advisor 1%/year to stick the money in an index fund prevents that behavior, that's actually not such a bad thing for most people.

[myrdale]

How long until you think people turn and say enouogh?

Do you people live in a fantasy world where the markets only go up?

Every other country on the list has been charging us tariffs for years. Go watch the videos of Nancy Pelosi saying we should challenge China's tariffs back in the 90's. From my understanding of the reciprocal tariff list, we are only applying tariffs at half the rate of what they are applying to American made goods. I agree with Nancy, this needed to have happened a long time ago.

As for Mexico and Canada, all they need to do if secure their side of the border.

What the markets do on a day to day basis has no effect on me at all. And if you're 80 and were foolish to have everything in the stock market, then don't withdrawal for the next six months, or until the markets rebound and seriously rethink your investment strategy. I plan on being alive in 10 years and historically the markets have always increased over that period.

Stay in don't sell, ride the wave out and quit worrying about every doomsayer on TV.

[ua_guy]

Do you people live in a fantasy world where the markets only go up?

Every other country on the list has been charging us tariffs for years. Go watch the videos of Nancy Pelosi saying we should challenge China's tariffs back in the 90's. From my understanding of the reciprocal tariff list, we are only applying tariffs at half the rate of what they are applying to American made goods. I agree with Nancy, this needed to have happened a long time ago.

As for Mexico and Canada, all they need to do if secure their side of the border.

What the markets do on a day to day basis has no effect on me at all. And if you're 80 and were foolish to have everything in the stock market, then don't withdrawal for the next six months, or until the markets rebound and seriously rethink your investment strategy. I plan on being alive in 10 years and historically the markets have always increased over that period.

Stay in don't sell, ride the wave out and quit worrying about every doomsayer on TV.

We live in a world where markets ride on stable economic and trade policy as governed by the biggest players. That's reality.

If markets slide 20-30%, which they are doing, with no recovery in sight, a lot of people can't just wave that portion of their wealth goodbye and be happy with it. Not for something that was totally avoidable in the first place.

I appreciate that you think anyone who disagrees with you is obviously influenced by TV media. However, the president's closest advisors are turning on the idea, the GOP is turning on it, the wealthy have signaled it's a bad idea, and large business is shaking its head no. Nevermind there isn't a single credentialed economist who thinks this is the right direction for our economy. But hey, tv, right?!

[disneysteve]

From my understanding of the reciprocal tariff list, we are only applying tariffs at half the rate of what they are applying to American made goods.

That might be okay if it were actually true, which it isn't. Not even close. And even then, it needs to be based on some sort of real economic policy.

Not all imported goods are bad for the US. Many of them are critically important in fact. As I've said before, there is not a single automobile made in this country that doesn't use at least 13% foreign parts and most are much higher than that. By imposing blanket tariffs on entire countries, rather than specific items as is usually done, you decimate American manufacturers and American retailers who can no long get the products and raw materials they need for their business.

You might not like the fact that a lot of goods sold here are made overseas, but that's the reality of living in a global economy. If you suddenly increase the price of those goods by 25% or 50% or 100%, then what? Who is going to buy a t-shirt at Old Navy for $30 that was $15 two weeks ago? Who is going to spend $60,000 for a car that was $48,000 a month ago? Small businesses are especially sensitive to price increases due to tariffs. That mom and pop British shop in my neighborhood that sells 100% imported items from the UK is going to get buried. If these tariffs last much longer, I can't see them staying in business even though they've been there for probably 20+ years.

Targeted well thought out tariffs can be a very useful economic tool. That just isn't what is happening right now.

[ua_guy]

What a joke. These tariffs are uncoordinated and reckless, economically speaking, at best. Better hope to heaven all the other countries we've pissed off decide to back down on their escalating tariffs as well. The US doubling down on our 2nd largest trading partner (China) is also a recipe for economic disaster but at least there's a 90 day, totally self-imposed reprieve from yet another self-imposed and manufactured economic disaster.

[EasyMoney00]

To the moon! Lol

Hopefully some of this abysmal year of negative returns will vanish.

Ua_guy. It's only paused for 90 days. If I were you, ,you should stay the course of the path you chose. After the 90 days and no negotiations are done, it'll crash even harder. You will be better in the long run to sit it out till is smooths over.

This should show everyone how much of a joke the stock market is. Time to wake up people.

[disneysteve]

It's only paused for 90 days

Or until he changes his mind again. This certainly isn't over. He's only been in office for 11 weeks. He's got 197 more to go.

[Jluke]

If this isn’t market manipulation….

I bought a $1000 worth of small number of shares (like 1-2) in my kid’s account on Tuesday because there was some cash there to invest. Good timing. Until the next time someone changes their mind.

[EasyMoney00]

Is everyone angry the s&p was up 9.5% today? Isn't that better than another steep drop day? It's odd to me that people have such disdain for the POTUS that they actually wish for the market to tank. I could never wrap my head around this thought process. People would rather watch their NW plummet just so they can say "I told you so."

Let's all be thankful the market was up. Yeah, circumstances are screwed up. The bullying/posturing obviously didn't work. Let's count our blessings.

The most important thing is everyone should stay the course. We will probably see more big drops if prez opens his mouth and does more dumb stuff. That's why I told ua_guy to stay on their path. Wait to get back in after all this mess settles.

[ua_guy]

Is everyone angry the s&p was up 9.5% today? Isn't that better than another steep drop day? It's odd to me that people have such disdain for the POTUS that they actually wish for the market to tank. I could never wrap my head around this thought process. People would rather watch their NW plummet just so they can say "I told you so."

Let's all be thankful the market was up. Yeah, circumstances are screwed up. The bullying/posturing obviously didn't work. Let's count our blessings.

The most important thing is everyone should stay the course. We will probably see more big drops if prez opens his mouth and does more dumb stuff. That's why I told ua_guy to stay on their path. Wait to get back in after all this mess settles.

It would appear you are the only one who brought this up. I can't think of anyone who is "angry" that the market is up today. Many people who were considering getting out before the crash can probably do so now without locking in big losses compared to before. That's great news. I do plan to stay my course because I have a good hunch the worst is yet to come. That's just my risk tolerance, but YMMV.

[james.hendrickson]

What a joke. These tariffs are uncoordinated and reckless, economically speaking, at best. Better hope to heaven all the other countries we've pissed off decide to back down on their escalating tariffs as well. The US doubling down on our 2nd largest trading partner (China) is also a recipe for economic disaster but at least there's a 90 day, totally self-imposed reprieve from yet another self-imposed and manufactured economic disaster.

Really interesting comment UA_guy. So, part of what is happening is China is doing most of the manufacturing, but a then a lot of Chinese companies will set up front companies in say Vietnam, or other Asian countries. This way they can legally claim the manufacturing is happening in Vietnam, instead of China. This gets them around tariffs.

So, if you're the Trump administration, and you really want to slap a tariff on China, probably you'd have to slap tariffs on all the countries China is using as a front as well.

[ua_guy]

Really interesting comment UA_guy. So, part of what is happening is China is doing most of the manufacturing, but a then a lot of Chinese companies will set up front companies in say Vietnam, or other Asian countries. This way they can legally claim the manufacturing is happening in Vietnam, instead of China. This gets them around tariffs.

So, if you're the Trump administration, and you really want to slap a tariff on China, probably you'd have to slap tariffs on all the countries China is using as a front as well.

I don't think it was that interesting of a comment. It echoes the quiet comments of business and people heavily invested in equities. Trade wars aren't good for business, period.

[kork13]

If this isn’t market manipulation….

I just got a text from my father, concerned about the exact same thing .... Politicians using all of this for insider trading & such. I explained their reporting requirements & common use of blind trusts .... But really, is that enough? Not everybody in government have those requirements. Not to mention ... Are there even sufficient regulatory & investigative bodies left with enough capacity to monitor for insider trading & illegal market manipulation? All of this stinks of either something illegal, or else something totally reckless, unconsidered, and impulsive.

[ua_guy]

I mean, is anyone really surprised?

One of these things isn't like the other...