Stewy
Premium
join:2007-12-12
Kitchener, ON
edit:
September 13th, @05:43AM
| Stock Market Collapse - Lost $35K in one month
So it's 5am and realize that I lost about $35,000 in investments. I have %50 bonds and GIC's and %50 mutual funds. All these funds are in 4/5 star blue chip equities like RBC Equity and BMO Equity, dividend funds ect... nothing even close in what you would call high risk funds.
Every investment specialist sounds like a broken record, long term, long term. In the .com bust I stuck through it, in the aftermath of 9/11 I stuck through it. But this is .com + 9/11 combined times 2
So basically I've lost 9 years of returns in one month, I'm no further ahead now than I was in 2000 and that's with %50 in bonds and Gic's.
I'm starting to think that the Stock market will never recover in these times. Someone please tell me otherwise.
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It's all... part of the plan. |
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happylurk
@look.ca
| If I were you I'd dump the mutual funds and start trying to pick individual stocks. To add insult to injury you pay between 3% and 5% "administration" fees to the c*cksucking fund managers who helped pick the dogs you lost your shirt on.
Actually if you look around right now, there's some pretty impressive bargains around in equities these days.
Banks like Royal and Scotiabank are trading around 12-13 times earnings and hitting lows that are pretty close to unheard of.
Energy stocks are trading at ridiculously low multiples like Petrocan trading at or below 5 times earnings.
If I were you I'd seriously consider dumping your broker's advice, learn more about the market and make a few aggressive investments to try and recoup your losses. |
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Fundy
Premium
join:2004-02-18
Nova Scotia
 ·Eastlink Cable
| reply to Stewy
You have been in for the losses, the worst thing to do now would be to sell everything low.
Individual stocks can be scarey and need a fair bit of knowledge and luck. Do lots of reading, see below.
Consider ETF's, but broad based index ones, not narrow focused ones that follow the flavour of the month.
»www.financialwebring.org/index.html general info
»www.financialwebring.org/forum/index.php the forumn
Or read up on the couch potato at »www.canadianbusiness.com/markets···p?ref=tn |
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Bellundo
@bell.ca
| reply to Stewy
What the hell are you doing in mutual funds? Canada has the highest fees in the entire world. At least use exchange traded funds (ETFs) if you're going to play sectors long or short. Judging by worldwide share prices for bank stocks the Canadian banks are trading around double what they should be. The tsx and the DJIA are both around 33 percent overvalued. Stay in Canadian bonds they should do well in the near future as interest rates fall. |
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Bellundo
@bell.ca
| reply to Fundy
I know, i know hold stocks for the long run you can't lose. Just like you could never lose money owning real estate. The DJIA and the US indexes have been manipulated upward since the summer of 2007. Fair market value lies somewhere around 7,500. Only a complete and total fool would be long stocks right now. The DJIA should fall to the 7,500 area or lower after the US election. The foreign markets are 50 to 60 percent overvalued. On another note J P Morgan and HSBC are manipulating the US dollar and the gold and silver markets. Don't buy gold or silver they may look cheap but the banks will likely drive gold down to 500 and silver down to 7.50. Best bet would be to short the german stock market the DAX. Cover your position when the DAX falls to 2000. |
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MacGyver
In Flanders Fields
Premium,ExMod 2003-05
join:2001-10-14
Orleans, ON
 ·Bell Sympatico
| reply to Stewy
I am starting to think that it's better to pay off your mortgage and loans first instead of investing. If I invested all my "retirement savings" in my own mortgage, it would be paid off in half the time. That's a huge interest saving, plus suddenly not having to pay over $1000 a month in mortgage payments is wonderful. Just think that I could actually enjoy that $1000 a month with my future teenage kids instead of being house poor.
In my opinion, the money I'm sinking into the markets is being used by speculators to drive the price of commodities through the roof. It's akin to lending your baseball bat to someone and then have them beat you over the head with it.
The only thing keeping me going is the income tax deduction that I get for contributing to RRSP's, and the fact my employer matches my RRSP contributions.
My dad recently retired, the house and car are paid for, and now the income he gets from his union pension, CPP, and his RRSP's are far more than he really "needs". I don't know if that's what I want. |
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dirtyjeffer
Happy Holidays
Premium
join:2002-02-21
London, ON
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to Stewy
you guys are scaring me...i have a fair amount of money invested too...sounds like mine could be down quite a bit as well. 
--
Best Marketplace Ever: »www.cbc.ca/marketplace/speed_bumps/
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Froggy
@teksavvy.com
| reply to Stewy
If it was only one month you would've lost your money in oil/gas gold/silver. They probably have you in RIM research in motion, Potash Corporation and Encana. The bottom fell out of these in the past month. You can thank those two banks J P Morgan and HSBC who back on August 3rd started aggressively shorting gold and silver. |
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Styvas
Go Canucks Go
Premium
join:2004-09-15
Cambridge, ON
 ·Primus Talkbroadband
·Shaw
| reply to Stewy
There's a reason why stock brokers and mutual fund salespeople must be licensed by the Securities Commission. Because it's a complicated and risky environment in which experience and training is a requirement. So if the experts can't get it right, what possible hope do you bunch of armchair stock analysts have in offering even the slightest semblence of sound advice?
Stewy  , stick with the experts and ignore these bums, me, and anyone else who lucked out and picked a good stock, made some money, and now thinks they're the cat's meow at investing.
If anyone here is licensed, then let it be known and I'll back off. But as a previously licensed (I've left that field) mutual fund salesperson, my patience is pretty thin with folks who would pretend to know what they're talking about, regardless of how well they've done. Take your own risks, but don't drag others into them.
--
"Moving your Tylenol to the low shelf in your medicine cabinet is not the way to prevent children from falling off a stool when reaching for the top shelf." (said by Savant, May 2008)
Check out the »Primus TalkBroadband VoIP FAQ. |
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Scoop
join:2006-08-05
Ottawa, ON | reply to Stewy
The market fluctuates, so what. Hold tight and you'll be fine. |
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Stewy
Premium
join:2007-12-12
Kitchener, ON
| reply to Froggy
said by Froggy :
If it was only one month you would've lost your money in oil/gas gold/silver.
I looked at it more closely and it's over the past 3 months.
I snapped these shots, these are the Canadian market returns for the last three months. It's a freaking bloodbath.
No wonder...
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It's all... part of the plan. |
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Devanchya
Smile
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Pickering, ON
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to Stewy
stewy.
Welcome to the Stock market. It's not always going up. This current "pre-bull" market is really going to hurt those near retirement... however you have to remember it does not always go up.
There's a reason as you get older, you should move your stocks into a more 'safe' setup. By time you hit 60 you should be almost all GIC and other garentee'd income.
I potentially could have lost huge... but I moved my money into some other plans. My RRSP's are all down 10%... I could have also made 55% return if I had gone into Com. and out before the dip.
The market is in a bull state. This is actually the same type of market we had in 2001-2003. Expect the bull to live for about 3-4 months and then a recovery.
It will go up again. If you know the exact date, let me know, my crystal ball keeps spouting NFL football predictions. |
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Stewy
Premium
join:2007-12-12
Kitchener, ON
| said by Devanchya :If you know the exact date, let me know, my crystal ball keeps spouting NFL football predictions. Oh well easy come easy go...
and to top it off isn't October known to be a bad month for investing. |
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pat_lc2000
join:2006-02-04
Ottawa, ON
| reply to Stewy
35K is a lot to get hit on. This is really a bond market to me given they are having a lot of fun at the moment playing on the commodities market (which you should never, ever, ever do unless you have time to watch it 24/7). I remember when I lost 10K after 9/11 which I never really minded...most of my investments have rebounded in the long term. |
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Devanchya
Smile
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Pickering, ON
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to Stewy
October has a bad 'vibe' because it's the month two of the major crashes happened. A lot of people take money out of the stock market in Oct so they don't have to worry about it during the holiday's. Same in April/May.
Oct also the last month before End of Year for a lot of investment companies... |
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pat_lc2000
join:2006-02-04
Ottawa, ON | reply to Stewy
I was wrong, if you want to take risks for a long term turn around dump a bunch of money in either RBC or Scotiabank and wait for Washington Mutual to finally fail in the US. Both of those banks are eying it for a takeover. |
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Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
Premium
join:2005-03-12
| reply to Stewy
I can't see anyone selling in a market like this, except maybe for some overbought energy stocks. The smart money always starts getting back into the market at the point where the man in the street is all gloom & doom. It may still be too soon, but anyone already in it I think should stay in, and at most maybe adjust the portfolio a bit. "Long term" may sound like a broken record, but it's a broken record that speaks the truth. The opposite of "long term investing" is "speculation", and that's a mug's game. 
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"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" -- a corollary of Murphy's Law
"A dog is like a child who never grows old ... always there to love and be loved" -- Aaron Katcher
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happylurk
@look.ca
 from:
Scoop
| reply to Stewy
Actually it's hard to make any kind of assessment given only the figure of $35K loss.
What was the actual percentage loss from your portfolio?
If you lost $35 K from $100 K then yes you endured a bloodbath. If you lost $35 K from a $500 K investment then that's a drop in the bucket and considered acceptable losses.
How much cash did you have invested in the volatile funds that actually incurred the loss? |
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digitalfutur
Sees More Than Shown
Premium
join:2000-07-15
BurlingtonON | Good points. Losses and gains are relative to the original investment. |
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ZZZZZZZ
Premium
join:2001-05-27
PARADISE
| reply to Stewy
Anyone who is so panicky about losses should get out and stay out of the stock market.
The up and down trend is a reality and for those that have seen it numerous times,know that you have to ride it out.
I've had basically the same mining and oil stocks for years [10-15]and have made some good $$ with them,but they're all down now.
But I know they'll rebound ,besides the summer months are slow ,normally.
It doesn't sound like you did any homework when you invested or didn't know when to sell or buy.
Should've bought some of Google's IPO,when it came out.
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~~Get our troops home...now!!~~ |
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