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> Trump, COVID, Russia have erased years of investment gains. I'm sorry, what asset classes did you invest in? Because Trump and the Covid stimulus were both v

by unmole 5y ago

> Trump, COVID, Russia have erased years of investment gains. I'm sorry, what asset classes did you invest in? Because Trump and the Covid stimulus were both very beneficial for my investments. Sure, the market has taken a beating of late but it most definitely has not erased years of gains.

deathanatos 5y ago
Mixed; I have an account with Schwab that — beyond some basic information about my goals, age, investment risk tolerance and the like — mostly manages itself. I'm not even remotely a beginner, let alone an expert, in investments to trust myself to manage it. I figure I'd be even worse off if I tried that. (I do have some stock that is just mine, and it's done some good, and some bad. It's a nice amount, but the problem is not "housing is more expensive" it's housing is another order of magnitude so even "nice" is but a dent.) That said, it mostly tracks the stock market, just sort of "dampened", since it has a mix of other stuff. The downswings from both Trump general craziness and COVID recovered, eventually (I was certain the downswings for things other than COVID would … COVID, I was less certain about, as this is probably the biggest thing that's ever happened in my life), of course, but it sort of feels to me like a detour where after several months you're like "yay, back to where were were". I'm a SWE, so I'm above the stimulus cutoff. (But that's the thing… well off enough that most things are fine, but … the housing market, practically speaking, wants millionaires, not "people doing decently".) But AFAICT, the cost of a home is keeping pace with gains in the stock market, particularly so if you're not in a sort of undiversified-yolo-all-in on the stock market position, which I've been told is poor form. But that makes investing for a home sort of a losing prospect: it's more just a savings account at that point, with the investment gains limiting the ground being lost. Conversely, AIUI, this is why there is so much speculation in the housing market; if the stock market were outperforming it, people would be speculating on that, instead. What boggles my mind how anyone not in tech is making do. What I see both from people I know, and in the news, suggests they're really, really struggling.
- FWKevents 5y ago
  Yes, I live in Pennsylvania. My husband and I are some of the very lucky ones, but there are many areas of the state that are just cataclysmically destroyed by economic hardship. Some people have no remote hope - ever - of doing a tech job, and need to do manual labor. These people vote, they are proud people, and they are ready to believe ANYONE, no matter how crazy, who will tell them that their precarious and depressing life situation is not their fault. This is how we got into our current political situation.
x3sphere 5y ago
A lot of stocks have gone back to 2019-2020 levels. FB being a big one. If you hold an index fund like VTI though, that's done well. These last few months really highlight the dangers of stock picking, even with big companies.

by unmole 5y ago

deathanatos 5y ago

Mixed; I have an account with Schwab that — beyond some basic information about my goals, age, investment risk tolerance and the like — mostly manages itself. I'm not even remotely a beginner, let alone an expert, in investments to trust myself to manage it. I figure I'd be even worse off if I tried that. (I do have some stock that is just mine, and it's done some good, and some bad. It's a nice amount, but the problem is not "housing is more expensive" it's housing is another order of magnitude so even "nice" is but a dent.) That said, it mostly tracks the stock market, just sort of "dampened", since it has a mix of other stuff. The downswings from both Trump general craziness and COVID recovered, eventually (I was certain the downswings for things other than COVID would … COVID, I was less certain about, as this is probably the biggest thing that's ever happened in my life), of course, but it sort of feels to me like a detour where after several months you're like "yay, back to where were were". I'm a SWE, so I'm above the stimulus cutoff. (But that's the thing… well off enough that most things are fine, but … the housing market, practically speaking, wants millionaires, not "people doing decently".) But AFAICT, the cost of a home is keeping pace with gains in the stock market, particularly so if you're not in a sort of undiversified-yolo-all-in on the stock market position, which I've been told is poor form. But that makes investing for a home sort of a losing prospect: it's more just a savings account at that point, with the investment gains limiting the ground being lost. Conversely, AIUI, this is why there is so much speculation in the housing market; if the stock market were outperforming it, people would be speculating on that, instead. What boggles my mind how anyone not in tech is making do. What I see both from people I know, and in the news, suggests they're really, really struggling.

FWKevents 5y ago
Yes, I live in Pennsylvania. My husband and I are some of the very lucky ones, but there are many areas of the state that are just cataclysmically destroyed by economic hardship. Some people have no remote hope - ever - of doing a tech job, and need to do manual labor. These people vote, they are proud people, and they are ready to believe ANYONE, no matter how crazy, who will tell them that their precarious and depressing life situation is not their fault. This is how we got into our current political situation.

x3sphere 5y ago

A lot of stocks have gone back to 2019-2020 levels. FB being a big one. If you hold an index fund like VTI though, that's done well. These last few months really highlight the dangers of stock picking, even with big companies.