My mental toughness is going to be tested with this recession

I haven't bought in over a month. Not saying I know how to time the market, but I do know that the bottom is further away than where we are now.

A lot of investors that were not in the market in 2008 or 2000 are going to see some real pain for an extended period of time for the first time. It is going to be interesting to see if they have the fortitude to watch significant portions of accounts disappear.

One key is to look at shares being accumulated rather than dollar amounts. You are getting things on sale right now. The problem is doing it knowing they are likely going to be on an even bigger sale in a month. I am terrible at timing a market, so I’ll just keep DCA’ing on the way down since I have a couple of decades before retirement.

I put my buys on hold about 3 weeks ago. Sold a little but not much. I'll start buying again before too long, maybe in a month or so depending on how things go. In the meantime I'm dabbling in selling options for cash flow. Never done it before so starting very small and trying to use this time to learn

quote:

---

The problem is doing it knowing they are likely going to be on an even bigger sale in a month. I am terrible at timing a market, so I’ll just keep DCA’ing on the way down since I have a couple of decades before retirement

---

Very good post. The problem that keeps showing itself is that investors (especially younger ones) take on a trader mentality when they should be more focused on accumulating. That’s assuming they’re not over allocated in a single stock or sector. If you’ve made smart long term investments, keep accumulating until you reach a point that you need to rebalance for various life events (marriage, kids, retirement, etc.). The point and purpose of retirement accounts (especially) is to accumulate and build wealth... long term - not capture daily or weekly market swings for short term profits.

People here, since I first joined this site about 7 years ago, absolutely hate answering my worn out questions: Is this a trade or an investment? Are you a trader or an investor? I trade and I invest. But you absolutely have to know what the goals are for a position before you hit the buy or sell button.

I just stopped looking at my accounts. My crypto is toast, my retirement is toast. Why torture myself watching it crash? This too shall pass.

quote:

---

A lot of investors that were not in the market in 2008 or 2000 are going to see some real pain

---

Very real pain, they have no idea what is coming. The crypto collapse alone will hammer an entire generation.

A recession that last 3 or 4 quarters will likely drop bitcoin to triple digits. Probably low triple digits. The sector hasn't seen anything yet.

quote:

---

My crypto is toast, my retirement is toast.

---

Your retirement will be fine unless you are 64 and need to start withdrawing soon. I think my accounts dropped 50-60% in 08-09 but they recovered and went higher. If the market never comes back we are all screwed

quote:

---

You are getting things on sale right now.

---

are we. i don't think we've hit sale prices just yet.

quote:

---

People here, since I first joined this site about 7 years ago, absolutely hate answering my worn out questions: Is this a trade or an investment? Are you a trader or an investor? I trade and I invest. But you absolutely have to know what the goals are for a position before you hit the buy or sell button.

---

Absolutely this.

Just from reading MT the biggest problem I see is people dabbling in trading having no idea about risk management. If you don't want to cut your account to pieces I would recommend learning about stop losses and position sizing before attempting any kind of trading.