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Originally Posted by Becca9800
I'm absolutely ignorant when it comes to the stock market yet that's where all the money I have is nesting. It's in a 403b, encouraged and supported by my former employer. I'm w Lincoln Financial, with an Aggressive Retirement portfolio. I've not a clue. Please be kind now, I know I've been not too bright but I'm here now asking for your advice. So please be nice. I watch my value go up, and go down, YTD I'm up. It's all I have and it ain't much, I cannot afford to lose it in a crash. But I don't want to miss any gains either (greed, I know. It's a matter of knowing I'll need gain to be comfortable 10 years from now). I keep reading the market will crash soon and it frightens me. I need a financial guru to guide me. I've been to two advisors and received conflicting advice. Do I pull out or do I stay and run the gambit? What's an 'ol girl to do? Thanks so much in advance.
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Stay where you are. There are periodic “market adjustments” where people get scared and decide to do what they call “profit taking.” Plenty of people then panic and sell. But if they hold on, chances are that in a week or two or a month the market will be higher than it was. Remember that last year there was a huge crash of a third when the Dow was nearing 30,000. A lot of people sold off everything is it dropped, a lot of that when it was near the bottom. They lost 30%. Could you survive if your funds dropped 30% and stayed there? Of course you could! But it’s not likely to drop like that again in your lifetime. Still, those who sold with the market down lost their money. Those who didn’t sell had a pretty good year, despite that drop. At this moment the Dow is at 34,466. That is a really big rise since the last election, just as there was a big one after the election before that. They worried and moaned, but they didn’t sell, and it was a smart move.
I’m invested the same way you are. If I had listened to estate planners in 2015, I would have moved more and more of my money into bonds and “less risky” funds. If I had done that, I would have about half of what I have now and I wouldn’t be able to afford to live here. If I had put the money into an annuity, I would have about half the monthly income I have now just taking some of the growth out of my fund, which keeps on growing. I assume it will fall. And then it will go up again.
Be brave. Stay the course! Don’t reinvest in risky investments with big pay-outs like the Bernie Madoff thing. Don’t reinvest in things that aim to just keep your money “safe” (relatively) by keeping it where it also won’t grow much.