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REDDIT

If the great financial crisis happened today for the first time, how much of your non 401k invested money would you lose?

I
Feb 26, 2026 · 16:28

Back when the GFC happened in 08, I was fresh out of college with no 401k and no house, but started trying to buy the dip with about 10k and lost some money. Today I have A LOT MORE excluding my 401k.

I'm asking based off your trading habits today and with your non 401k accounts, how screwed would you have been in terms of buy and selling etc? Would you have sold everything or rode it out? Would you have tried to buy the dip and with how much? Would you have missed the recovery?

I've always been more of a buy the dip trader, so I would have been screwed because the dip was extended more than a year, and that's how I lost in 08. But I'm also 95% fully invested today, so I think I would have rode out up to a 25% downswing and then sold at least half my portfolio. I think once we were close to 40-45% down I would have re bought, but who knows.