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When the 2008 crashed happened the office I worked in had lots of people take their money out of their 401ks, IRAs, or brokerages for years. In hindsight it may
by azemetre 6y ago
When the 2008 crashed happened the office I worked in had lots of people take their money out of their 401ks, IRAs, or brokerages for years. In hindsight it may have been irrational but from what I remember, people were scared. Some people lost their job for years (remember the various news stories about 99-week unemployment people?), you needed whatever money you could get. If that meant cashing out everything you had, so be it.
There were other people that weren't fazed by it and obviously had the chance to not miss the "days."
Guessing this type of anecdote may be more common than people think.
- kqr 6y agoNot only more common -- that is effectively what crashes are: demand for liquidity exceeds the supply, and the way markets are set up, this condition causes an even greater demand for liquidity, in a feedback loop. Most of the time, you can get liquidity, but only at a price that really hurts. Sometimes you can't get it at all.
- azemetre 6y agoThat makes sense, growing up my parents never contributed or had a 401k and I myself didn't start taking investing or contributing to anything until last year.