So tell me why I shouldn't sell out and move everything if the market evens out

Because NO one knows when the drop is going to happen, or what the bottom will be. You can't predict the market. I have friends that took their money out a couple years ago telling me the bubble is about to burst. They missed out on some damn good gains.

If you do pull your money out, have a set number or date when you're going to buy back in. Don't try to predict it.

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As I stated in another thread, I've gone over 40 years without being in the market and just chose to buy in to several mutual funds last year.


Now this (today's events) happens, and everyone is saying even if the market comes back up that a major adjustment is going to happen soon. Possibly even a crash of sorts.

Why shouldn't I pull all my money out and sit and wait weeks? Months? for the market to drop to 6k, 8k, or whatever horrible level it will drop to?

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First of all, psychologically, you need to basically abandon the memory of when you decided to go into the market. That is literally irrelevant now, so try not to let it color your forward behavior.

Now, as to your forward behavior, you are terrible at market timing (as is everyone.) You should only sell now if you believe there is a fundamental over-valuation of whatever you bought. (And even then, maybe you shouldn't sell).

You also need to weigh what your needs are...are you 65 and on the precipice of retiring and switching to a fixed income? Are you 55 and just got the highest paying gig of your life? etc. etc. This matters.

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I've gone over 40 years without being in the market

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Stock market right?so WTF did you do all those years as far as investing is concerned?

RE?
tax liens?
futures?
Private lending?
private business?

Bought my 2 homes (primary and weekend) and paid them off. Then built up a nice cash nest egg.

I'm only 44 so my over 40 years statement is misleading, sorry. Basically never been in the market in my life until last year

Do you have a financial advisor? If so how did you find one you could trust or you knew was good at what he does?

I preface this by introducing myself as an investing noob. I've never not seen doom and gloom when it comes to the market, so my question is, does anyone (normal consumer) ever make a profit and is the profit minimal or big?

One important thing to do if you are a savy investor is risk management.

But that is not timing the market.

Example:
If you saw the indicators (and they were there) that this was coming and you slowly increased allocation into more conservative aspects as a result, you now have capital to buy a lot of stuff cheap. And ideally that new allocation is from fresh capital, not selling off assets. You only want to sell off assets if you think the long term fundamentals make it no longer suitable compared to your current risk profile.

But timing the market often fails horribly. It can pay off, but you have to understand that it is always a gamble whose risk increases the more you allocate to it.

You'll be fine if you are savvy investor (read: can read the data on your own so that your choices aren't dictated by "what everyone is saying") and you put around 30% towards accommodating risk of a crash.

When you start talking about total liquidation, you have flown into the cookoo nest.

Case in point: people have been screaming a double digit crash was coming for YEARS during one of the best markets we might see for a good while.

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If you saw the indicators (and they were there) that this was coming

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What is "this" and what were the indicators?

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Why shouldn't I pull all my money out and sit and wait weeks?

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Because buy hi sell low is a bad idea.

If you were comfortable buying equities a few weeks ago, you should be more comfortable as the price goes down. Buy more during the dip. In time, you will be happy.

If today's movements don't deeply disturb you, you have an iron stomach.