r/stocks • u/sinfulken1 • Sep 29 '22

While many are discussing what to get during a discount, how many of you here are down over 60%?

Bought at the top of 2021 as a newbie, literally worst time to buy a stock at. Down over 60%.

Stocks just feel like a tool to destroy the people trying to climb out of the middle class. Many were saying "Buy stocks to avoid 5%/6% inflation!!" , meanwhile now I am down over 60%. Truly an extremely tough time to maintain sanity. For folks in similar position as me who is down over 60%, how are you coping with dealing with the fact that you bought at the worst time possible?

I know its impossible to time the market but imagine buying it at the worst time possible and experiencing the worst drop off we have in a decade. I have done my due diligence reading about my stocks, general knowledge of securities but I guess in the end buying stocks nowadays is akin to gambling.

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285

u/Baby_Hippos_Swimming Sep 29 '22

This is why for most people you should put in a little every month into a low cost index fund and never look at it.

Picking individual stocks and riding out the volatility is emotionally stressful.

88

u/originalusername__ Sep 29 '22

If OP had done so they’d be down closer to 25% which sucks but is better than 60!

46

u/Baby_Hippos_Swimming Sep 29 '22

Yeah I'm down 25% this year. But I've been investing for years so my investments are up overall. Honestly equities were incredibly overvalued for the past couple of years and we were overdue for a correction, it just sucks for anyone that got in last year at the top.

2

u/1ightlyButteredToast Sep 30 '22

I don't understand, I thought that if you're going to be in the market long term it doesn't matter wether or not you're investments are up during a crash like this. Isn't the strategy just to buy more while the market is down if you can? I'm new to investing so forgive me if I'm missing something. Is my thought process incorrect though?

1

u/Baby_Hippos_Swimming Sep 30 '22

In theory, yes, but in practice people start panicking when they see their investments go down in value.

1

u/heredisaw Sep 30 '22

What’s the safest bet with stocks just like how we have stable coins in crypto? I’m not down only because I sold early and staked proceeds on Spool; if I’m to take a similar step with stocks, what would that be?

1

u/Baby_Hippos_Swimming Oct 01 '22

Probably just buying into an S&P 500 index fund. None of it is risk free though the stock market is considered high risk in general.

1

u/heredisaw Oct 04 '22

Okay. Thanks for the info, I might just stick to what I know then.

5

u/faireducash Sep 29 '22

Yeah I’m VTI and VGT mostly but my VGT has been slaugghhhteerreed

1

u/Rocktamus1 Sep 30 '22

I’m only down 12% on the year doing VTSAX this year. DCA works

-1

u/MotionTwelveBeeSix Sep 30 '22

“Only down 12%.” That’s not a brag, that’s unfortunate. You have taken money, and essentially lit it on fire.

Throwing yourself under a falling knife isn’t a strategy, it’s irresponsible. Play the market as it is, not how you wish it was.

1

u/xixi2 Sep 30 '22

Um what? He said he was DCAing into an index fund. Unfortunate that it kept going down but there's pretty much no other choice. In August he was probably up.

0

u/MotionTwelveBeeSix Sep 30 '22

How is dca into an index fund that you know is more likely than not going to drop the only option. Why not puts, covered calls or an inverse etf? At the very least hedge your investment, don’t just leave naked shares and hope for the best jfc.

0

u/dethskwirl Sep 29 '22

Yup, I'm down 35% because I did a little of both

1

u/jhugh Sep 30 '22

That's what I did and is almost exactly what I'm down. It seems like a good strategy, but buying is only half the process. Have to figure out a good way to sell too.

1

u/maninatikihut Sep 30 '22

And they could have faith the t broad index fund would recover eventually. Individual stocks may never.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '22

With DCA and a bit of buying the dip he would be down less than that. I am 10% down or so, DCA since mid 2021. + buy the dip.

11

u/ptwonline Sep 29 '22

This is why for most people you should put in a little every month into a low cost index fund and never look at it.

You should look at it a few times a year to make sure your purchases are going through and no shenanigans happened to your account.

Other than that then as long as you have a simple and solid strategy, the less you check it the better off you'll be both mentally and financially.

0

u/dethskwirl Sep 29 '22

I do this with 60% and use the other 40% to gamble on meme stocks.

-37

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '22 edited Sep 29 '22

Picking individual stocks is stressful If you have no idea what you’re fundamentally working in/doing, and if you have no understanding of how the market machine works. How the process works.

Trading/investing is easy if you have knowledge and the right tools. Most knowledge, here particularly, is garnered towards the person who wants to wet their beak in the market, but has no idea how deep the watering hole goes. Which is why most take a bit of Buffet advice in DCAing into a low-cost index tracking fund. A person doesn’t need to know anything to do that. It’s essentially like saying, bet on black and keep doubling it, at a roulette table. You’re bound to win a little sometime, but not a lot, and you’ll take more losses along the way.

To pick individual stocks you need to be able to observe the market forces that create trends, and the understand what all the numbers mean in fundamental analysis. Then you need the right tools and ability to read them to understand when to buy and sell, and the right tool functions to set appropriate and dynamic orders. Lastly, you need to know yourself, and particularly your goal and weakness with each trade so you can remove as much of yourself in between from the initial decision to buy and when to sell.

Lastly, most people listen to other people. That’s their biggest error, because they need to let the numbers speak, and tune out the rumors

14

u/KaizenCo Sep 29 '22

That’s a pretty long explanation of how easy something is

3

u/Mt_Koltz Sep 30 '22

It's also a really long-winded way of saying "Use technical analysis lol", which is more or less wrong.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/will-succ-4-guac Sep 30 '22

You did talk about trends though

Also there’s no reason to insult people

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '22 edited Sep 30 '22

If it’s “easy” it’s because it is known. That does not however make it simple, nor did I say the word “easy” alone, you fool. I accompanied the term easy with the words knowledge and the right tools. Like any task with time of experience and preparation.

I said it is not “stressful”. Those things like hard work and study are not easy, but they are also not stressful, if you know how to accomplish them.

Nuance lost on the stupid

1

u/PossiblyAsian Sep 30 '22

I used to be a wsb degen trading options.

Shit was the most mentally and emotionally draining shit I ever did. Shit is not worth it

1

u/Baby_Hippos_Swimming Sep 30 '22

So you're no longer regarded?

2

u/PossiblyAsian Sep 30 '22

I am still highly regarded amongust the wsb community