A lot of people here and in my social group seem to feel that they’re fine just holding on as the stock market drops. The view is to hold out for the uptick - but this sounds to me like a mantra absorbed through repetition and not thought out well at all.
I’m not a clever equities investor. My instincts are good but I have a life and I have emotional freak out when I see red which inclines me to do the smart move of selling low. Hence being at a 15% loss even while shorting the crap out of the market these last months.
That said, I’m a newbie and I’m learning my triggers. And I’m also learning to try to make sense of stock phrases like “it’s not timing the market, it’s timing the market”. I looked at historic charts and depending on the time a person enters a market, it has taken 25 years to regain what was lost. And that’s with healthy compounding.
Equally maths mean big losses require much higher gains (while trying to outpace inflation) so a 20% drop does not regain itself through a 20% increase.
I have a friend who is 59 and he’s lost I guess 80k at least by now - last I checked it was 40 and this was pre bloodbath. I suggested maybe he could pull out and he and his wife laughed and said nope, not going to look for another ten years. It makes me wonder how common this mentality is and then of course what’s happening with pension funds?