So who's buckling down and getting ready to ride out the market correction?

[Godhumor]

It will be interesting to see how many people panic and dump stocks and how many hold to them and take the long-term view. Considering what panicking can cause in the market, I really hope most people are leaving their portfolios alone.

The next week and a half will be very interesting to watch.

[Emillereid]

1. I got out of the market two months ago -- I don't have the heart for

the volatility. Besides I think the US economy is going down big time.

[Godhumor]

6. I'm about 60% in treasury bonds, so safe there

I will probably change the weights of my portfolio when we hit bottom, but right now I only have 40% tied to the Dow--so not as bad as it could be for me, but still hard to watch.

[havocmom]

2. Havocdad just takes it with a grain of salt

He doesn't even add tequilla! And he is getting close to the end of his working years. "Just part of the cycle" he says. Damn, I sure wish I had his faith in the long term.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. We're standing fast

but it's a bit nerve-wracking since we're retired and may not have 10-15 years to recoup the losses. (I never counted on it anyway -- I've been telling my husband for months that we can't rely on those IRAs for anything. It just seems like funny money to me.) We've already lost about $25,000 over the past couple of months. :shrug: Oh, well, I've been broke before and survived; I'm sure I can do it again if I have to.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. I'm letting mine ride

such as it is.

I don't think I'd cause much of a market ripple, no matter what I did :)

[Swede]

5. I'm in for the long haul.

Stuck through 911,it bounced back nicely. It will do it again.

[backscatter712]

7. I'm leaving my 401k's alone.

I can't touch them until I'm 65 without getting raped with penalties anyways, so it makes me more risk tolerant in this particular endeavor. I'm betting they'll lose a good chunk, but not all their value during this recession, but they will eventually recover. Long term in the stock market, what goes down must come up, but you're going to get a roller-coaster ride on the way.

[Godhumor]

8. The rocky road, so to speak, is when it sucks if you try to invest on your own

I imagine there are a lot of armchair investors out there who are watching their worth plummet and don't have the people needed to talk them through this.

[NMDemDist2]

11. I'm staying on the sidelines for a while

I can invest hubby's 401k again, but since he just changed jobs I'm waiting a bit before I decide where to allocate

[backscatter712]

20. For now, I'd say put it in CDs.

Those will give you a 4-5% guaranteed rate of return, so it's a good place to put money while waiting the recession out.

[wtmusic]

26. If your "investment horizon" is longer than 5 years

and you are not extremely risk-averse it makes no sense to go to CDs now.

Although it takes some fortitude to buy when there's "blood in the streets", there are some great deals on stocks right now. Over 30 years of investing my experience has been that the precise moment when no one believes the stock market will turn around is when it does. Obviously you wouldn't want to invest any money you may have to dig into soon.

Over time, even with recessions/corrections factored in, the stock market returns 11% annually.

[A HERETIC I AM]

22. Which penalties are you thinking exist?

Not sure why you said "I can't touch them until I'm 65 without getting raped with penalties anyways" because the penalty you may be thinking of has to do with a withdrawal taken before you turn 59 1/2.

If you are still employed after you turn 59 1/2 and you would like to access some of the money in such a plan, any allowable restrictions can vary depending on the plan. Your plan may allow what are known as "In-Service" withdrawals where you can roll a portion of the funds into an IRA while still employed. In an IRA, the penalty for taking a distribution prior to 59 1/2 years old is 10% of the amount distributed and the entire amount is added to your taxable income for the year.

Most plans have a website these days and you can find all the particulars about withdrawing from them on the web. Otherwise a phone call to the administrator of the plan will get your questions answered. You may find it is easier to access the funds than you think.

[backscatter712]

34. I think you're right.

I wasn't entirely sure how old you had to be to dip into your 401k without penalty - I guess it's 59 1/2.

Anyways, I'm 34, so it's gonna be a while...

[hunter]

9. In our household we live paycheck to paycheck.

We've been doing that all of our adult lives.

The nice thing about this economic disaster is that the collection agencies handling our medical bills are totally swamped. On the rarer occassions when a collection agent actually gets around to calling us they sound so discouraged I want to tell them to have a nice day.

[Warpy]

10. I'm living on interest and dividends

so dumping it just doesn't make any sense. Nothing else will produce the income I'm getting.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. the only market I go to

sells fresh organic produce. I will go by the salvage store tonight and stock up on supplies--possible winter storm moving in.

[puerco-bellies]

13. Alison shifted out last week after taking a 20,000 hit on her retierment fund.

I told her to move to government securities last September but a coworker convinced her to stay in a Foreign Stock weighted fund. A week ago last Sunday during the middle of the night the markets did a sudden nearly 100 point drop in seconds. For some reason the boards "broke" the trades and the drop was in effect erased by Monday morning. I e-mailed her to get out but she waited till last Wednesday.

This will not be a short term retracement in stock prices. This will be a trend that will last a year or more. Alison retires in just under 5 so we are playing the loss prevention game.

I had cashed out years ago trying to float a business that sunk anyway.

And you right, the next couple of weeks will be very interesting. Look for what the funds do in the commodities. Will large funds go into bonds? If so the very smart money is running for the sidelines. If gold holds or goes higher due to fund buying head for the doors, the big money is looking to protect assets, and it is time to wait it out.

[Godhumor]

14. Yeah time's the major issue

I'm still young enough that I can play the 20 or even 30 year game with my portfolio, so I'm still in this through the recession (Here's hoping it doesn't last longer than the normal 10 months though), and, as I said upthread, I'll probably switch my weighting around and move more money into the market from treasury bonds when indicators point to growth starting again. That said, I'm still planning on a bumpy ride for the next 1 to 2 years--just in terms of dropping, not recovery.

[Medusa]

15. I've got 50% in bonds right now

50% in stocks. I'm not touching my money market right now-they're locked in at a good rate. I'm trying to pay off any credit card debt I have and am looking to add more to my savings account. I heard an expert say you need 8 months(!) of living expenses saved up. Who has that kind of money without dipping into their retirement funds?

[Godhumor]

16. I can't think of a single person in my immediate circle who has 8 months of living expeses saved...

I usually keep 2 to 3 months on hand and get the rest working for me. 8 months...I don't think I have ever had that kind of money sitting in a basic checking or savings account.

[Hamlette]

17. I'm buckeled it.

And staying. But I admit I don't look right now. I only have IRAs and I only look at them when the market goes up.

My husband and I have invested about the same amount. I always ride it out. He gets jumpy and sells and buys. We both have about the same amount now after 30 years of this. Doesn't seem to matter much. I have a pretty steady increase and he loses most all of it but comes roaring back. Who knows?

BTW, my husband is a banking lawyer and he says the sub-prime lending thing is not nearly as scary as the savings and loan thing was in the 80s. He's actually sticking this one out too. He says it isn't that big of a deal. I'm clueless. My eyes glaze over at the mention of banking.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. Your eyes glaze over?

So do mine. My husband is all over those statements from our broker, but I ignore it. It never seems like real money to me anyway. I just am so thankful that my husband has a fixed pension that we can count on for our month-to-month expenses. I'd be freaking out about now if the IRAs were all we had to count on.

[coalition_unwilling]

33. Sub-prime may not be as 'scary' but is definitely far more serious, imho. Your husband might want

to review what happened to credit markets during the roaring '20s, then take a look at what has been happening in credit markets for the last 30 years. Parallels are so obvious, i.e., over-leveraging in almost all sectors and under-regulation or no regulation in most sectors, that we could truly be living now through our very own "Hoover moment."

[ThomWV]

18. My son and I are both buying ...

[Virginia Dare]

19. The only thing I've got in the stock market is my 401(k)...

and it's pretty well diversified. I'll stick it out, in reality what choice to I have?

[wtmusic]

21. Leave my portfolio alone? Whatever for?

I'm scrounging for cash to buy more.

[Godhumor]

23. Would that I could

Ah well.

[W_HAMILTON]

24. I don't plan to get out

I just started my retirement funds last year, and have a ways to go before retirement, so I will continue to fund my 401k and roth IRA like usual.

I only wish I hadn't put $2200 in my roth IRA ASAP early in January...oh, the amount I lost from that, and the amount I could be buying now if I had only waited. But from all I read, they said January is usually a good month for the stock market, so I figured I'd go ahead and get into it as quickly as possible.

Ugh.

[cgrindley]

27. I don't think it's a correction

the market is generally sinking for quite valid reasons, not to get rid of an artificial bubble. So it's not actually a correction.

[Godhumor]

30. We'll see, I think it is a major correction based on artificial highs

Essentially, the market has been riding nothing at all for the past 1/2 year or so, in my opinion. We will see, however, if it keeps sinking past the "real" level.

[cgrindley]

32. Naw... the war wrecked the economy

wrecked the dollar, sent oil through the roof. The housing bubble could have been weathered without too much trouble without everything else compounding the situation.

[B Calm]

28. I diversified all my investments. I'm still taking a hit, but not as much as I could had

if I was still being aggressive. I have always taken the long term view and hoping the market will turn around soon.

[Retrograde]

29. I plan to go bottom fishing

look for companies that are actually doing ok but taking a hit on their stock prices due to Wall Street panicking and try to pick up some bargains. It worked pretty well in 1987 and at other times. Otherwise, I'm not planning on any major shifts in investments: since Mr. Retrograde and I are retired and depend on income from investments we diversified some time ago.

[LSK]

31. I moved stuff around a little in my 401k

Moved more into my international fund.

Moved a portion to the retirement 2030 fund and will forget about that for 20something years.

Also plan to pay more into my mortgage and get that smaller.

[chaska]

35. I've often suspected that DU was home to the overly comfortable.

[Godhumor]

36. Being in the market could be as simple as IRAs and for retirement

Having a portfolio does not make one rich or even comfortable.