Fuck it! I'm getting out

[stromboli]

I'm not that worried about it. The house is paid for, and that is where we plan to live. The plan for the condos is rental property. If things get so bad that we can't rent them out we are probably going to have bigger things to worry about.

Sounds like you got a plan. Good for you. the only property I've owned I've lived on, so don't know much about investing.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Nobody really owns their home.  Actually the state owns it and will take it if you fall to far behind in property taxes.

In case anyone missed it the Royal Bank of Scotland is predicting some really tough times ahead...

Sell everything ahead of stock market crash, say RBS economists

http://gu.com/p/4fm2y?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

I don't really own anything, stocks included, so for me it's buy as much as I can afford when it goes to shit I guess.

Edit: honestly I've been waiting for things to fall in general before investing. I'm trying to find the most major crash I can and pick up the scraps

[drunkenshoe]

I don't own anything either. So this subject overall is depressing me.

[Baruch]

I'm not that worried about it. The house is paid for, and that is where we plan to live. The plan for the condos is rental property. If things get so bad that we can't rent them out we are probably going to have bigger things to worry about.

I had a condo that I rented out ... but I was paying a mortgage on it.  Rentals got bad in the late 80s, and I couldn't keep it rented, so I had to give the property deed back to the bank ... fortunately when it sold at auction, I didn't owe anything more than what I had in it ... but that investment was ... gone.

[PopeyesPappy]

The rent we get on the house is currently more or less paying the mortgage including taxes and insurance on my condo. Karen's daughter is renting her condo for the monthly mortgage payment so that's a wash. We'd like to see her move out because we could get at least another $250 a month out of that but... So basically right now all we "have" to pay out of pocket is taxes and insurance on the house. But we are paying what would normally be my condo payment and hers on her condo to pay it off early. Once that's gone we'll put both payments towards my condo. Both places should be paid off in about 9 years.

[PopeyesPappy]

The DOW closed down another 2.2% today. It's down 12% since peaking in May.

[stromboli]

I owned 2 houses prior to the bankruptcy. The first one I got a fabulous deal on, bought for $23,000 in a good location. 8 years later after a pretty extensive remodel that I did, it sold for 10 grand more than that. The second house had a whole bunch of  hidden problems that I didn't see until too late, and everything went south. Property values dropped, I left the Mormon church, wife was diagnosed with MS, had health problems because of my job (turns out I'm allergic to Nickel fumes. You can't weld aircraft with that allergy)

Took me 8 more years to get my shit together, lived in a mobile home and decided, since the kids by then were grown, we didn't need a house, since outside property care was a bit much. Got lucky and eventually bought a mobile home that has a shop in the back and a nice area for a deck and a patio, which I've been working on for awhile. Right now I am better off than I have ever been, but boy I paid my dues.

[GreatLife]

The problem with cashing out due to an emotional response is that you will nearly always get out at the worst time.  I have been trading the stock market since 1985 - I have lived thru several of these major bear markets.  One of the best lessons I ever learned is when I have an emotional response like you had - walk away till I can calm down and think.

The DOW hit 16000 this morning from a peak of about 18000 - RBS says that we will go down 20% this year and we are already down 12%.  When you factor in the pessimism of a bearish market - it is possible that 16000 is the low for the year.  So you have already lost more than half of the predicted decline - and quite possibly the market goes up from here.

Surely it would be better to at least wait for a bounce in the DOW before selling out?

[PopeyesPappy]

In 2015 I earned $4,106.20 on my non real estate investments. That's a 0.57% return for the year. I could have done better than that with a savings account.

Between January 1 and January 11 2016 I lost $30,710.40. A 4.24% loss in eleven days. Between the time I cashed out all my stock on the 11th and close of business on the 13th I made $4,568.39. A 0.66% return in 2 days. I don't expect to do that all year by any means, but since my goal for the year is to protect my principal I'll be perfectly happy if I make nothing this year as long as I don't lose anything.

If the market loses another 8% this year I'd be out another $55 to $60 thousand dollars. I may not make anything this year, but losing another $55 to $60 grand wouldn't be inline with my goal of protecting my principal. 

[Baruch]

Ouch, ouch ... remember it only hurts when you laugh ;-(