re: After being fully invested several years I got out this morning

Good morning fellow money talkers. I'm ready to be blasted again.

This morning I decided to look at my performance over the last couple years. In April 2017 I picked 5 Vanguard etf's and basically set it and forget it. Funds were S&P 500, Mid Cap, Small Cap, Developed Markets and Emerging Markets. Tickers VOO, IVOO, VIOO, VEA and VWO. I should have been a better steward of my investments. The only real winner was my S&P etf. The others are either down or up less than 10%.

I've gone back to Vanguard and am looking at different ETF's to get in to. I'm looking at both YTD returns as well as going back to 10 years. It looks like real estate (VNQ), consumer staples (VDC) and utilities (VPU) have done well.

However, last time I went with a sector was the healthcare sector fund a couple years ago and I got torched in that one.

Blast Away!!!

I think you should definitely be paying someone to do this for you.

You’re the prime example of a DIY investor who lets his emotions dictate his financial decisions.

quote:

---

last time I went with a sector was the healthcare sector fund a couple years ago and I got torched in that one.

---

i made good returns on that fund. most others here did also. sounds like you did something wrong which would not surprise me.

Okay so not going to blast you but just want to be honest. I think you need to seriously consider a couple of things.

First you need to determine how willing you are to research investing strategy, current market/economic trends and/or individual companies (if you are not just index investing).

If you don’t want to spend a few hours a week minimum doing this you should heavily consider using an advisor. Specifically a low fee robo advisor that will allocate your funds to index funds based on your risk tolerance (I would recommend looking into M1, Betterment, or wealthfront). There is nothing wrong with doing this, I think for many people this is the best way to prevent letting emotion rule decisions.

If you do want to spend the time, I recommend doing some research into different strategies and come up with what investment strategy fits your and your risk tolerance. Once you know what you want your portfolio to do, invest only what you are willing to lose for a while. See how your strategy does and be willing to adjust it (not fully exit) if it isn’t what you want. As an example, someone with a moderate tolerance for risk may consider investing in 70% stocks and 30% bonds. From there they select a percentage to US stocks, international stocks, government bonds, and corporate bonds. Once you feel more confident in your strategy add more money. Always know though that you must have the gut strength to see it lose money and stay the course (have confidence)!

Just my two cents.

Damn man, this has not been good for you.

Draft a strategy going forward and wait for the next Trump tweet to buy in whatever allocation you give the stock market.

I’ve thought about this dude almost every day.

7 day winning streak

There are some crazy stats that show if you missed so many of the best days over so many years what it does to your return.

Here is one from Putnam

There are also charts showing if you missed the worst days. Good luck with timing that.

Nailed it, good job.