Im not a big fan of puts and shorting stocks but do y’all think VOO could get below $400 in the next few months? I like being a bull but right now I think we’re in trouble. In any case im steadily growing my VOO investing account while the market is cheaper but exploring the idea of long puts which I typically stay away from because of risk.

Just curious what everyone's thinking.

Given the current status of the market, would you start pouring thousands into ETFs on Monday or take it day by day and make small contributions over the coming weeks? Would you hold off until you started to see an uptick in the market?

Bought Berkshire Hathaway lumpsum just a few days before the crash. Thinking of selling now and cutting my losses and seeing what happens over the coming weeks/months before buying back in. Thoughts?

Anyone else thinking of shorting the S&P or Nasdaq?

If so, what’s the best way of doing this?

Long term S&P will obviously go up but in the immediate term I believe it’ll get worse before it gets better.

Thanks

My understanding is that these mass tariffs will weaken the value of the U.S. dollar, potentially leading the world to move to another reserve currency such as bitcoin. Therefore, this could lead major institutions to invest heavily over the next couple years in bitcoin causing prices to skyrocket.

So I am thinking it is a great time to park some cash into crypto etfs like FBTC and IBIT.

Is this a fair assessment or am I way off?

So I've been following the model for a long time of set-and-forget investing via a diversified ETF. Everything I've read had advocated that and advised not 'timing the market'. So I did that. But I feel like a monkey could have known that stocks would fall from the tarrifs announcement and I should have pulled out the day before. Now I'm down and I feel like it was avoidable.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

How downturns are typically categorized:

1.  Slight Decline (1–9%) – Often just considered normal market volatility or a pullback. These happen fairly often and usually don’t cause much concern.

2.  Correction (10–19%) – This is called a market correction. It’s a relatively common occurrence and can be healthy for markets by cooling off overvalued conditions.

3.  Bear Market (20% or more) – Officially defined as a decline of 20% or more from recent highs, often lasting for months or more. It reflects broad pessimism and negative investor sentiment.

4.  Recession Bear Market (typically 20–50%) – When a bear market coincides with or is caused by a recession, the drop can be deeper, often in the 30–50% range. Think of 2008–2009 or the 2000 dot-com crash.

5.  Depression-Level Crash (50% or more) – Extremely rare. Think Great Depression (1929–1932) or post-WWII hyperinflation scenarios in some countries. These involve massive economic upheaval and are often paired with systemic financial breakdowns.

If it is a Black Rock product, why would it use a "V" to denote its rival, Vanguard? I guess the other V stands for 500, even though Roman numeral V is 5, not 500. The Roman numeral for 500 is D, but I guess that doesn't sound as cool as IVV? But, V for Vanguard? Bizzare.

Seeing as Nasdaq has entered bear market, having declined 21% from its all time high and the S&P 500 might do soon soon, should I wait to invest in VOO and if so how long

I think it’s safe to assume that the tariff-induced downturn will eventually run its course. It’s even possible that the stock market may overcorrect before gradually rising again. What do you think the trigger might be?

1. Trump caves in — he claims the mission is accomplished and reverses the tariffs.
2. Inflation comes in very low, and the Fed drastically cuts interest rates and starts bolstering financial markets again.
3. The Democrats win the midterms.
4. Corporate earnings bottom out — forward guidance begins to improve, indicating the worst is over for profits. There's a positive surprise from Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, etc.
5. A major hedge fund or institution flips bullish — a high-profile investor (think Buffett, Druckenmiller, etc.) goes long and makes a public statement, triggering a sentiment shift.
6. A significant rebound in consumer confidence and spending data suggests consumers are ready to drive the economic recovery, shifting overall market sentiment.
7. A major geopolitical resolution or new trade agreement alleviates uncertainty, encouraging investors to re-enter risk-on positions.
8. Rapid improvement in leading economic indicators (like housing starts or manufacturing PMI) signals that the economy is gaining momentum again, prompting markets to climb.

Please share your thoughts.

…what stocks or ETFs would you invest in tomorrow and forget about for the next 2-3 years?

I understand that the market works on future projections and has already priced in some negative outcomes. Just curious as to what is already priced into the market price?

Is it safe to assume that the tariff amount is already priced in? What about the reciprocal tariffs from China? I’m guessing those were probably priced in on Friday when the market dropped almost 6%. I know the EU response has not been priced in yet, as we don’t have it.

Finally, the biggest question I have of all, is the decision to move forward with tariffs on April 9th already priced in? Or are people still banking on this issue to be resolved before it goes into effect?

If 50% of your total compensation every year was from one cash bonus and you want to invest the entire bonus each year, would you rather lump sum or DCA the investment every year? Assume you have enough income from other sources to cover living expenses and will keep this current income situation for the next 10+ years.

VT is basically all of U.S. stocks and the world. If U.S. goes belly up, doesn't it shift to international? How are VT bros, doing?

I’ve been learning about investing and I keep hearing VOO and VTI mentioned everywhere — they seem like the go-to options for a lot of people. But once I started digging deeper, I realized there are so many ETFs out there: sector ETFs, international, dividend-focused, thematic ones... it honestly gets overwhelming fast.

I want to keep things simple and long-term, but I also don’t want to miss out on something better suited to my goals. How did you all narrow down your choices when starting out? Did you just stick with VOO/VTI or explore beyond that?

Would love to hear your approach or what helped you decide.

Hi. What's your method? Is it better to invest 500USD monthly or divide that amount weekly?

Just a thought..i check the SP 500 for a general gauge

I made the mistake to do a lumpsum investment of around 100k in QQQM and VOO around Halloween last year and all accounts r down big time. How bad is this ? I am down several thousand dollars and don’t have cash on cash to DCA right now when the market is dropping

My average buying cost is $536 with total $10500 invested

I still have $10000 sitting ready to DCA

What is your average buying price?
What are your next plans to DCA?

PS:

I have only 1 investment in stock/ETFs and that is VOO

Do you have any advice for me?

Are these the two that I should be investing in right now ? I’m new to this and want to be sure this is it.

I have about $50,000 that I’m willing to invest.

So I am about 10 years from retiring but my husband is much older (63 with terminal cancer). I bought VOO back during Covid so I'm not at a loss yet. It is so hard to look at this mess and not want to pull my money out tomorrow morning. I actually had an order in to remove my money but canceled it. I probably should had diversified my portfolio a bit more as I got older or moved to a money market fund. Currently I have VIGAX, VTSAX, VGT, VOO, VPU, VTI, VXUS. I am in the process of moving from a savings to a money market fund now which I should had done years ago had I known better. Those of you that are closer to retirement, what are you doing? Are you moving money from your stocks and holding cash in a money market or HYSA for the time being until this stabilize?

None of us have any idea how much longer this will go on - the time it will take for tariff negotiations from all these countries and what happens in the end..... Those of us that are closer to retirement are freaking out quite a bit while Trump is over here playing golf in Jupiter, Florida, celebrating wins, and it's supposed to be big, great news.

Would

I put 60k in a broad US etf mostly during last year, its tracking the msci usa index. Saw it go up to 72k but now sitting at about 56k after last week.

Edit: I realized during the discussion the correct type is an index-tracking mutual fund, not an etf, although similar composition (100% stocks). Sorry for posting it here - however the general situation and strategy is quite similar.

What I’ve experienced is that Ive not the stomach for stocks even when in a broad etf. The gains didnt affect me positively but seeing it go in the reds has thrown me totally off. Yes I know about 10 year perspective and time in the market but theres also a value to my day to day mood and I dont see how it will rebound in a long time.

Contemplating selling it off for mental health and throwing the surviving cash in a 5% savings account. Can write off 40% loss on tax also.

However I will have to tank mondays movements as the sell order will go through at the value set after monday close.

Do you expect it to further drop or will we see some kind of status quo where investors remain cautious waiting for e.g. EU response while some are buying in at what they think is a good time? Seen a lot of those sentiments.

Edit: my biggest fear about monday is that the EU commission will give a statement about their response late in the day i.e. early Wall Street hours. Germany and France have called for a tough line. In that sense I’m worried monday might be another big drop