I in early 20s and just started looking into investing in spy or voo some snp500 into a roth ira everyone scared because market going down but if you just buy and hold for 40 years the market going down is a good thing right you get to buy low and get slight better gains in the long term

That was what everyone in this community always advocated for, but here we are…

Now everyone is apparently holding mountains of cash waiting for “the bottom.” Completely contradicting what they had been preaching all along.

Personally, I am somewhere in the middle. I like to keep $100k of cash on hand at all times when we are at record highs, which includes my emergency fund and cushion for opportunities, or money available to pay down my mortgage if I so choose.

During this bear market, I am taking advantage of the opportunity and deploying $10k blocks every 5% down in the S&P below 10% down. Since we are at 17% down now, I am down to $80k in reserves. I will continue adding all the way down. I won’t technically run out of money until we get to 55% down, which I don’t see happening. Once we rebound I will build those cash reserves back up most likely through my income and not selling.

I realized that I am way too invested in tech and would like to rebalance my portfolio(planning on slowly DCAing into VTI/VOO/VTSAX. I am 35 YO and still have a minimum of 15 years left before retirement.

Current holdings:

SPY: 10 shares. Down 1.1% or $57

QQQ: 20 shares. Down 10.5% or $991

NVDA: 205 shares. Down 25.2% or $6,402

MSFT: 82 shares. Down 12.27% or $4,120

GOOG: 162 shares. Down 21.3% or $6,445

AAPL: 61 shares. Down 16.14% or $2,191

AMZN: 30 shares. Down 19.51% or $1,237

Total: down -$21,447.32

I have some money in HYSA that's collecting 4% and plan on keeping it there(possible house down payment, etc). The yearly return is probably around $15k

I am not sure if I understand the TLH rules correctly. For example:

If I sell my stocks for a loss(for example $21k loss) and I end up collecting 15k in interest from HYSA for year of 2025. Would my capital gains for that year be negative $6k? And I could use this to offset my taxable income for 2025 by $3,000 and then another $3k for 2026? Is this worth doing given my situation? Or is it better to hold?

Is this worth doing? Does the amount of lower tax I am paying due to lower taxable income worth more then the capital losses I am realizing?

Thank you

Throughout 2024 I put all my money into spy puts as I expected a significant market correction/ recession. I did this because of things such as the yield curve being so inverted for so long, the sahm rule being triggered, the fact that many of the jobs being added in the jobs reports were either in food service or the govt (which I do not take as a good sign), and PE ratios being much higher than normal. The S&P kept rally going up and up. Around mid December I had come to the conclusion that I was either missing something or that traditional indicators such as the ones I have listed we're no longer reliable in the post COVID economy, so I exited my position and bought some spy stock. Now the stock market is tanking and the put options I sold are soaring. I feel so upset and confused and lost, I have no idea what to do with my money now. Does anyone have any advice for me?

I was wondering whether anyone had some interesting advice on how to safely deploy about $500,000 for a couple of weeks before tax day. What would be an option for maximum return for a very short period of time? Assume that some very modest level of risk above a savings account is acceptable.

During a 40 year old timespan, do yall think ETFs like VTI and VOO will just be strong? The US economy is currently drifting apart, as a result of the new tariffs. The market is experiencing new lows. Is this just a blip, or possible uncrowning of the United Stares as a world power. Other countries are starting to get off the US. Things look bleak if Trump doesn’t change the tariffs.

Can someone tell me if using this trading mechanism makes sense or if I’ve misunderstood something. My thesis is that the market will continue to go down significantly over the next few months to years but will eventually rebound. I don’t think anyone will be able to predict when that lowest point will be reached or the rebound will take place.

I had been stockpiling cash since trumps election predicting some global destabilizing economic event would take place and now have a small lump sum ready to deploy. Because I think the market will go much further but eventually rebound I’ve set orders as a trailing stop purchase for XGRO by 3%, with the understanding that the purchase order won’t activate until the equity rises 3% below its lowest point.

My thought process is that this will decrease the likely hood that I’ll purchase at far “too high” of a price in exchange for the fact that I’ll purchase at least 3% above the lowest point.

Does this make sense? I know the common advise is just to DCA downwards but I feel pretty confident that things are going to get worse before they get better.

A couple of years ago, conservative investors were all talking about I-Bonds. Then inflation dropped as the Fed lowered rates and, of course, I-Bonds (or TIPs) lost their appeal. Where could, should, or shouldn't they fit into a portfolio today — say a married couple nearing retirement with 10K each to spare?

No one's talking about them — so I'm deducing they don't make sense now. But I'm not sure why. I hear predictions the Fed will cut rates, which'd be bad for these investments (I think mostly in terms of I-Bonds — I know less about TIPS). But inflation seems like more of a certainty.

We're not talking about a huge sum of money here.

But back on 8/23/24, I reallocated my 401K from 50/50 (50% equity / 50% cash) to 20/80.

They did a reallocation of my current balance, but they didn't modify my future contribution.

I only found that out today while auditing the activities.

So from 8/23/24 up to now, They were allocating my contribution 50/50 rather than 20/80 as I requested. I have screenshots from back then as well as a confirmation number.

In this case, would Empower be responsible for any loss in value of my account due to their mistake?

Hi Reddit,

My wife and I have a good size post-tax portfolio in a basic three-fund allocation of ETFs (US stocks, international stocks, bonds). We also have a cash emergency fund and some money in cash equivalents (was earning great interest when rates were high).

My wife has seen the carnage of the last two days and wants to sell our US stocks to hold more cash. She believes that none of this will get better in the next few years, and Trump's sledgehammer to the economy won't stop.

I think selling when there's blood in the streets is a panic decision, and the stated purpose of our portfolio (long term wealth building) is unchanged. I think using some of our "dry powder" to buy during the Trump turmoil might work out well.

She trusts the stock market very little, preferring tangible investments like real estate. I see it as one of the few viable roads to long term wealth (along with the house we own).

I can't deny that echoes of Hawley-Smoot, the Great Depression, and the possibility of a constitutional crisis have me rattled too. I just don't want to make a snap, panic decision.

So: are any of you selling? What's your plan to re-enter the market? If you're holding, why?

Edit for context: we're on our mid-late 30s

How investors can respond to Trump’s tariffs turmoil - https://on.ft.com/4ck4ECN via @FT "There are many others. One is the value of equities among the financial assets of US households. This amount, according to data from Bank of America and the Federal Reserve, has swung between 10 and 30 per cent since the second world war. By the end of last year the proportion had reached 29 per cent.

This might bring pause for thought. Not only has this percentage risen well past that at the top of the first tech bubble, which popped in 2000, but that figure also exceeds the previous peak of 28 per cent in 1968."

We inherited an account that is currently held by Morgan Stanley with a financial advisor. We invest ourselves and want to transfer it out to Fidelity. If i initiate an ACATS account transfer do all these positions automatically get sold off for cash? I would call Morgan Stanley but its weekend now. Or do I have to tell them to liquidate everything first? Looks like there is no way for me to do this myself. There is no buy or sell button on the Morgan Stanley website.

Say I'm an auto company and the supply chain is structured that many of my parts have to go back and forth across the border several times. This could result in thousands of dollars in tariffs as the value of the goods being transferred is calculated at each border crossing.

Now if I'm one of those providers in Canada, what's to stop me from lowering the price of my goods by 25% and charging an administrative fee that's not subject to tariff? Something like "Line production fee" that just happens to be the exact same value as what the tariff is eating up. Or they could charge a subscription fee that allows for X number of parts to be produced per month but reduces the cost by 25%.

Seems like we're going to see a lot of this kind of creative accounting. Surely the IRS will catch th... nevermind they fired all the IRS agents.

In short: invest in accounting firms.

Just curious what you all feel most "confident" about putting your money in in these uncertain times. I'd love to make some money in this crazy market, but I understand that is very difficult, so if you have other "safe"/capital preservation ideas I'd love to hear those too! Just looking for opinions! Good luck and godspeed to everyone out there. These are very sad times for America and the global economy

Hi everyone, in lieu of what’s going on, I have a TLH question if you anyone can shed light on it. I have been going back and forth on this for a bit now, but especially after what’s been happening I thought I would ask.

I use Betterment as my platform for basically everything—checking, HYSA, investing account, Roth IRA. I just happen to like it that way—keeps me invested on a regular basis for DCA purposes. I am 24 y/o and would like to continue investing on a recurring basis. Nevertheless they have TLH, but for my tax bracket which is 12% ($62K/yr salary), this recommendation to not turn TLH on appears:

“TLH+ is not usually beneficial for individuals in your federal tax bracket of 12%. Once TLH+ is turned on (1) Avoid trading in any of the ETFs in the Betterment portfolio in other accounts. (2) Turn it off if you plan on liquidating the majority of your taxable account in under a year. Be aware of your portfolio strategies. Electing different portfolio strategies for multiple goals may reduce opportunities for Tax Loss Harvesting.”

So because of my salary and 12% tax bracket, they do not recommend TLH. Do I abide by this or turn it on regardless? Is there harm to having TLH on for me specifically?

Thank you very much!

Today I have seen a bunch of charts that show if you miss the 10 best market days, you miss out on material gains. These charts are designed to help people understand the benefits of buy and hold. I have not seen the inverse charts. What happens if you miss the 10 worst days? I suspect the benefits will be dramatic since the adage "markets take the elevator down and the escalator up." Has anyone seen a chart of the benefits of missing the 10 worst days?

I did well w those stocks in particular, but was holding out until I could use them to finally cross off my goal of owning a home in LA.

Just curious what people are doing right now given the tariffs... I'm thinking of selling 50% and then reinvesting after the tariffs get implemented.

I'm not an experienced trader by any means, not aggressive with investing, just using it to stay afloat, have retirement, fund my parents' retirement (they have none), and buy a home one day. Would love your input, thank you!

Simple example, but assume you had $100,000 invested in the S and P 500 at the peak of $6100, and you somehow, perfectly knew to sell your entire investment at that point. Assume 0 taxes and trading commissions to be generous.

You then miraculously hold out until the current bottom of $5074 and decide to put your $100,000 back in, feeling like a genius.

If the S and P 500 eventually recovers back to $6100, you made.... 20% extra return! Great. Let's not even consider potential dividends you missed out on by not being invested.

That is $20 000 extra you made out with. Sounds like a lot, but really, it's not. You are not going to become a millionaire or be able to retire early off of a maneuvor like this. You need to CONTINUE with absolute perfect market timing to keep compounding these returns over time. Each time, you need to correctly time your SELL and also your BUY back in.

The VAST majority of people cannot consistently do this and beat the benchmark over the long term. You might have a couple perfect trades, that give you some meager gains. But over the long term, you are going to mess up and miss time some HUGE gains by not being invested in the market. And all those taxes, trading commissions, and missed dividends we ignored during the single trade example, are sure as hell going to add up over the long term.

Consistently buy and hold for the long term. You don't need to stress and are likely to out perform 95% of market timers over a 20+ year period.

Hi! I am not a smart investor, but I feel like I have an opportunity. I was laid off in October. I rolled an $86k 401k over to an IRA at my bank in February. Because I’m lazy and didn’t know what to do with it, it has just been sitting there since. Not invested in anything. What should I be researching to put it into? I’m 50.

I have a similar amount in a different account that is in a money market fund steadily gaining about 5%. I have been drawing on this account during my time unemployed, it is where I dumped my lump sum severance and bonus payout when I got laid off.

I’m starting a new job at the end of the month and will start a new 401k contribution. I am fortunate that I will likely be able to max out this contribution as long as I have the job.

Hey, I am trying to avoid a wash sale, can I do so by selling both the newest purchase as well as the two oldest purchases?

Oldest purchase was from 11/2024 newest lot purchases was 3/27/25. All the lots are negative right now. I do not plan on repurchasing the stock for at least 30 days.

***Edit and I want to clear one thing up. My mistake I didn't word it to be taken literal like I'm depressed and it's affecting the quality of my life really negatively.

I should have probably said discouraging and making me second guess my strategy and thinking this is not one of those moments I should start getting aggressive on investing to get better deals in the future and I should start protecting my cash for some bad bad stuff***

I am a newer investor and trying to stay the course (Even though I'm basically where I started out a year ago) but dang every time I click on a Reddit sub it is straight panic and run.

I guess this is a good indicator to what Warren Buffett was talking about when others are fearful be greedy and is pretty easy too see when others are fearful on Reddit.

All I know is keeping fingers crossed hopefully everything works out for all of us in the long run. FYI I completely understand some crazy stuff going on right now.

I'm not trying to cause any arguments or anything like. And I'm really impressed about this sub and the majority of the post are really positive and encouraging. I am not going to sell I am going to ride this wave all the way to the bottom even if my balance goes to zero.

I know annuities can be controversial and many of them generate huge commissions for the advisor. But Jonathan Clements, a financial columnist I respect, has recommended immediate fixed annuities as part of an investment portfolio. His logic and numbers make sense to me.

I had initial talks with an advisor who only recommended one annuity from Allianz. It seemed like that was all they sold and I wasn't given a true choice (or any choice). So I know getting them from the right person is important. But the specific person Jonathan recommended, Dennis Ho who ran a website called Saturday Insurance, doesn't do it anymore. So how does one figure out what the right fixed annuity is?

I was looking at a list of US recessions on Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States). It looks like every recession since 1973 has come under a Republican presidency.

In the past 50 years, has there been a recession that started during a Democrat administration?

Edit: to answer my question, yes in 1980 Carter. Apologies, for getting my presidential timeline wrong. 1980 was Carter (D) not Reagan, and 1973 was Nixon (R) not LBJ. Thanks /u/OrneryZombie1983 for pointing that out.

Likely tariff recession: trump (R)

Covid 19 recession: trump (R)

2007 Great Recession: baby bush (R)

2001: baby bush (R)

1990: papa bush (R)

1981-82: reagan (R)

1980: reagan (R) carter (D)

1973: LBJ (D) nixon (R)

Edit: (thanks /u/bozoputer)

1969 - Nixon (R)

1960 - Eisenhower (R)

1958 - Eisenhower (R)

1953 - Eisenhower (R)

Edit 2: Gerald Ford (R) 1974-1977 appears to be the only Republican president for the last 75 years, out of the eight, without a recession starting during his administration. For democrats, Carter appears to be the only Democratic president for the last 75 years, out of six, to have a recession start during his administration.

I've been DCAing into VOO for a while, but now that I'm getting older (and the market is, well, where it is) I'm considering holding onto the VOO I have but reallocating my monthly contributions to a more stable fund.

Any other folks in my age bracket making similar moves? What funds are you switching to?

For context, I'm maxing out my 401(k) into a TDF and have additional holdings (stocks, ETFs, UITs, etc.) that I'm sitting on but not actively contributing to.

I have a large position in VGIAX which is an actively managed account that is very tax inefficient that I would like to get out of. With the downturn, my position is mostly even making the capital gains I'd pay to sell mostly negligible. Is it wise to sell now, and re-buy into something more tax efficient (either VTI or VOO)? Or is this essentially just rationalizing a reason to sell low?