r/portfolios Mar 26 '20

Don't Panic! Stay the Course - You May Be Social Distancing, But You're Not In This Alone

102 Upvotes

3/26/20: Seems like every company I've ever interacted with is sending out a COVID-19 update, so here goes mine: investing is a long-term activity. Short-term market downturns of this magnitude (and higher!) are to be expected. If you're going through your first big equity downturn right now, you're not alone. If you find it stressful, try to avoid watching the news and continue investing as usual. Better yet: if you're young, cultivate a 'stocks are on sale' attitude and be glad you can keep buying at lower prices. Whatever you do, avoid short-term, split-second decision-making.

Hopefully, you've planned for this. You have an emergency fund in cash (like a savings or checking account) as a baseline. Beyond that, you know your risk tolerance and have a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, including home country and international equities. If you feel stress-tested by all of this, consider waiting it out without taking any action at all (or changing contributions), then once there is a recovery deciding if maybe you should shift your stock/bond balance. Or if there is no recovery: sharpen some spears and start learning how to fish!

Because at the end of the day, things will recover. If they don't, your investments won't matter anyway. If they do recover, the biggest mistake you could make right now is capitulating and trying to time exits and entries. There are some chilling posts and threads over on Bogleheads.org from the 08/09 crisis filled with fear and (later) regret from panic selling. Every crash is different in its details, but if the past is any indicator, things will recover sooner or later.

I have no idea if things will go up or down from here. I'm just rebalancing my allocation in accordance with a plan I made years ago, and have only tweaked slightly along the way (and always in small ways and at non-volatile times). If you don't have a plan written down, it's worth doing - it can help you stay the course.

But in the words of The Dude: that's just, like, my opinion, man!

Meanwhile, stay safe out there, folks.


UPDATE (8/31/20): When I posted this on March 26th, I really didn't know the market had just bottomed out. I have no crystal ball. It looked to many people like things were going to get worse before they got better, hence this post. But I hope the subsequent recovery reinforces the point, which is: stay the course. Now that tech stocks and US large growth in general have gotten overheated, my advice is the same: don't drop what's doing poorly and pile onto recent winners - diversify, buy, hold, rebalance and tune out the noise. People who panicked and sold low missed out on a solid recovery. People who are now greedily buying high may find it rough when the tides turn again. If you made a mistake and went to cash, or tilted toward large or tech, it's never too late to rethink and diversify. But in the meantime, I would strongly discourage people from trying to jump on the inflated US large/tech/growth train.


UPDATE 2 (1/3/21): Well, the pendulum has fully swung - people were fearful and eager to sell early last year during the downturn; now many of those same people are eager to chase winning sectors at unprecedented highs. If I could give investors just one piece of it advice, it would be to diversify and stay the course.


UPDATE 3 (1/23/22): And now those hot sectors from 2021 are tanking while broad-market indexes are only slightly down. Not sure what else to add here, except to echo the above: buy, hold, rebalance. Tune out the noise.


UPDATE 4 (2/25/24): And now that US large caps are doing well again, with valuations climbing ever higher into nosebleed territory, people are once again eager to buy high and sell low, leaning into recent winners. It's frustrating to see all of this from the sidelines, but inevitable whenever one thing is doing better than others. In any case, the real takeaway here is that winners rotate, and it's better to hold the haystack rather than trying to find needles in it. And per the original message: tends tend to recover even from dire crashes, so stay the course!


r/portfolios Feb 16 '22

Looking for additional insight on your portfolio? Be sure to drop by /r/bogleheads, too!

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25 Upvotes

r/portfolios 48m ago

Am I cooked, now down 7% after being up 30% pre tariffs.

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Upvotes

I dont even know what to do anymore, I have some computers I am trying to sell atm and that will give me hopefully 2200 usd to invest with. I dont know whether to hold and wait for more of a drop or reinvest sooner rather than later.

Any help or advice appreciated.


r/portfolios 3h ago

What do you think of my "LOW RISK" portfolio strategy

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6 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’m new to Reddit and excited to join this community! I’ve been working on some investment strategies since 3 years (initial amount 1000$ and 500$ monthly contribution) and wanted to share one with you all to get your thoughts. I’m here to exchange ideas and grow through discussion, so please feel free to share any feedback is welcome !


r/portfolios 3h ago

Long term investing strategy

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4 Upvotes

Hey, I am 29y old, just started and planning to invest 20-30 years. 4 ETFs mostly tech based. I have a 100e savings plan on Microsoft and would like to ask if I should do that with Nvidia too? Any advice is welcome.


r/portfolios 3h ago

Starting to invest

4 Upvotes

Hey everyone I’m turning 18 at the end of April and I know the market is crazy right now does anyone have any advice for starting out at a time when the market is kinda crazy? Or any tips on researching investments? Everything seems so crazy and advice from people with more knowledge would be great! Thanks


r/portfolios 29m ago

Pain

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Upvotes

Nearly 7 figure portfolio a month ago. The pain is real.

That said. I’m late 30s, so just gonna let her ride. Going forward. I’m gonna do 70/20/10 (us stock, int stock, us bond) for retirements (roth ira and 401k Roth).

Still buying, DCA. Hopefully just a bump in the road. Have been monthly buying since 2010.


r/portfolios 22h ago

21M looking for advice

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44 Upvotes

21M just started out about 2 weeks ago. Any advice on what i should keep or change? All criticism is welcome.

VDY: 33.46% TD: 23.04% COST: 19.09% FTS: 16.46% VOO: 7.96%


r/portfolios 11h ago

Advice with investing on income

0 Upvotes

I now have an additional £250 coming into my bank account each week.

Since stock market is reacting to Trumps tariffs, what’s the best way to invest this new line of additional income?


r/portfolios 14h ago

Roast my portfolio

0 Upvotes

Would love to have a 10%-15% CAGR.

  1. 40% Stock PIE

    • Nvidia — 14.19%
    • Microsoft — 8.81%
    • Apple — 8.66%
    • Alphabet — 9.45%
    • Crowdstrike — 9.51%
    • Medtronic — 8.13%
    • ASML — 9.29%
    • Tesla — 7.68%
    • TSMC — 4.46%
    • Eli Lilly — 11.27%
    • Zscaler — 4.06%
    • Palantir — 4.5%
  2. 10% S&P500 ETF (VUSA of CSPX)

  3. 10% All World ETF (VWRL of VWCE)

  4. 5% WHEA ETF (Global Clean Energy)

  5. 5% Emerging Markets ETF (EIMI of IEMG)

  6. 5% WisdomTree Physical Gold (EGLN of WGLD)

  7. 15% Bitcoin (BTC)

  8. 5% Ethereum (ETH)

  9. 2.5% XRP

  10. 2.5% HBAR


r/portfolios 22h ago

53% bonds(avg 5yr maturity) 25% stocks(half non-US) 5% US REITs 17% Gold+Bitcoin

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3 Upvotes

Early-retired 8 years ago and withdrawing 2.90% annually for living expenses. We started with a whopping 70% bond allocation, which is now down to 53%. We're doing the reverse glide path thing where you take on more and more stocks as you age.


r/portfolios 1d ago

How the turns have tabled.

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19 Upvotes

Still bullish on semis and because of that dropping 6k into USD Monday.

My normal DCA doesn’t change.


r/portfolios 23h ago

Investing plan

0 Upvotes

Hello,

Im 21 years old and have about 5k CAD saved up to invest right now.

Because im not very educated yet on investing I would like to put the money into safe low risks stocks for long term growth, especially now that everything is down, I plan on investing in;

  • Google
  • Apple
  • Amazon
  • VOO
  • VTI(Not to sure about this)

I have a few questions though;

  • How should i divide up the 5K
  • If im investing in VOO whats the point of investing on the companies that are apart of it?
  • How should I diversify

r/portfolios 1d ago

Confused head about the invesment

1 Upvotes

Hello guys,

This is not the right place i know. But i don't interest about dividends because in my country tax problems so much and so much paper work about it.

I'm searching for low exp ratio and passive things.

I'm thinking about 40% QQQM 40% VOO and %20 VT, one SP500 one is NASDAQ and another one all world.

Someone please help me


r/portfolios 1d ago

21M, looking for advice.

0 Upvotes

Thoughts on these stock picks? Anything else I should look getting into? Will be putting more money in probably this year.


r/portfolios 1d ago

PEOPLE WHO SHARE PORTFOLİOS?

1 Upvotes

Is there anyone who shares her stock portfolio like Joseph Carlson? Live broadcasting on YouTube?


r/portfolios 2d ago

20F, 1year investing

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88 Upvotes

Hi, I started investing about a year and a half ago. I’m in uni and don’t have a job so I just invest pocket money/any spare money I find.

My portfolio was doing pretty good till about two weeks ago (hit £4K 🥲🥲)and wanted to see if there’s anything I can do better. I’m hoping to invest enough to get a mortgage in the next 10 years or get to a position that dividend payments are an alternative stream of income.


r/portfolios 1d ago

What features do you (investors) want in an app, but is consistently missing from the current options in the market?

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0 Upvotes

r/portfolios 1d ago

What should I invest in VOO or FXAIX?

1 Upvotes

I would like to contribute 7k for this year (2025) into my ROTH IRA with fidelity but not sure if I should choose VOO or FXAIX? If both are similar why do VOO shares cost more?


r/portfolios 1d ago

So sad

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3 Upvotes

If I held my shares instead of panic selling like a dumb ass only a few days into the trade I planned too stay in for 6 months but backed out of. I could of done so well but onto the next 😭


r/portfolios 1d ago

¿Opinion sobre mi cartera?

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5 Upvotes

r/portfolios 2d ago

Fidelity Wealth Management at work 🤦🏻‍♂️ biggest one day loss ever 😳

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462 Upvotes

r/portfolios 1d ago

I’m cooked

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3 Upvotes

I’m new too investing, did due diligence on a option lost all my money, am loosing my current 200, how do I go about getting this little capital I have into some funds over the next week, what app do I use too bet against the market any help would be amazing. I feel like I know stuff then just miss the obvious when I feel I am certain in my thinking it’s so fucking anoyying lol


r/portfolios 2d ago

Canadian investing 800 bucks to start about every 2-3 weeks.

7 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

Downloaded wealth simple. Will start investing I think about 800 CAD every pay hopefully maybe a little less.

Looking for some solid buys, starting next week. Looking for long term, but some dividends would not be opposed. I like extra money, who doesn’t!

I think I need to stick to stuff on the TSX as the exchange rate will crush me. I did a little bit of research but would love recommendations.

Thanks again!


r/portfolios 2d ago

New portfolio

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5 Upvotes

Just graduated college and got a real job. Have about 10 grand to throw in. Planning on waiting for the market to bottom out from the tariffs and buy in then but here’s the game plan. Any advice is much appreciated.


r/portfolios 1d ago

Diversify to necessities?

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0 Upvotes

Should I diversify into necessities / consumer staples?


r/portfolios 3d ago

Thank you for liberation day

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7.2k Upvotes