Arg, Tired of Losing Money - What do we do?

The Rant
So I'm unfortunately one of the 90% that kept my money in 401k, mutual funds, stocks and I lost more than half of my savings to this mess. I feel robbed. I've lost at least $150-200k to this mess (i know it's probably not much to people that have been working for a while, but still sucks to lose what I've been working for)

Stupid, I know. Please don't tell me how you got out before this diahrea mess happened, because I know how dumb I am.

I heard what was coming, but just decided to ignore it thinking I'm in it for the long haul anyways, well now instead of ignoring like I have been, I want to take action.

Next Move?
Reinhardt seems to be able to predict dates of collapse and he predicts another collapse is coming on 02/09/09. I'm willing to take a bet on this (hell it seems to have a better chance than listening to the people on bloomberg radio or the damn media). If I wanted to profit on this. What would be the best option? Buying 'put options' made most sense. and if so which tickers?

If people really believe DOW is hitting 3000, what are you investing in or are you just backing out? If you believe in it to the point of pulling everything out, why not short?

If people are interested in discussing this in private, let me know and I can setup a mailing list for us

[edit on 16-11-2008 by kenji4861]

[edit on 16-11-2008 by kenji4861]

Oh and I have invested quite heavily into Gold/Silver/Foreign Currency just in case the USD collapses and yes I understand this will be something we're expecting in the next 0-5 years.

reply to post by kenji4861

I heard what was coming, but just decided to ignore it thinking I'm in it for the long haul anyways, well now instead of ignoring like I have been, I want to take action.

IMO if you have already suffered severe losses, and admit these funds are for retirement and not exactly "needed now".. don't touch it.

Reinhardt seems to be able to predict dates of collapse and he predicts another collapse is coming on 02/09/09.

No, he's a tool and cannot predict anything.

02/09 is the month that all final Christmas Sales reports come out.. we will see how well we fared as a consumer economy during the Christmas season.

Since GDP in America is based on a huge proportion of consumer spending, especially retail, if the Christmas season is a failure, the country will take a massive economic hit.

Current estimates from top retailers are calling this coming Christmas possibly the worst in 20 years, some say this climate of spending has never been seen in living memory, and some estimate the contraction of consumer spending will drive them into bankruptcy.

Also GM has said if they do not receive funds by January, they will file for Bankruptcy.. and it's looking like they will not be receiving funds, and their suppliers are declaring bankruptcy at an alarming rate.

Any amateur economist can look at these reports coming out, understand they are down played not to scare people, and see that a perfect storm for economic disaster is brewing.

If people really believe DOW is hitting 3000, what are you investing in or are you just backing out? If you believe in it to the point of pulling everything out, why not short?

401k and mutual funds give you very little options as to what you can and cannot invest in.

If you look at your investment portfolio for the past 10 years, calculate what you start with, what you end up with, and average the gains across 10 years.. you may find that fixed rate investments are a better choice for you, as you do not seem all to thrilled about taking risks.

Oh and I have invested quite heavily into Gold/Silver/Foreign Currency just in case the USD collapses and yes I understand this will be something we're expecting in the next 0-5 years.

Gold prices have collapsed, so that was not exactly a smart investment was it?

Gold prices are relative to the currency, if the currency collapses, Gold's value will be so high it will be unusable. If you even have the hard metals in safe keeping.

Watching my investments take a hit has been depressing but honestly I'm trying not to pay too much attention to my portfolio at the moment. My stocks are all long term holdings that I didn't intend to sell in the next 5 years or even longer so I plan on just riding this out.

I just turned 41 and though I have four daughters that I will be putting through college (the first one will start in 2015, second in 2016, third and fourth in 2018), I'm confident that by staying on course with my savings and and not panic selling, everything will be fine.

Your age should be a key factor in regard to what action you should take. Also, how your savings/investments are earmarked is also a big factor. If it's money you'll need to put children through college or to live on in your retirement that will need more protection than money that you are planning to pass down to future generations.

Jemison

I listened to my company for 401K advice and I lost 42.5% of my 401K this year. I listened to the 'buy gold' folk on this list and around Oct 9, I bought GLD at $88 just before banks were liquidating gold for dollars. When the DOW hit 8,200 on Oct 27 I sold my mutual funds and bought bonds.

Of course GLD is at $73 now, and the DOW had been over 9,000 since I sold mutual funds.

Half the folk on the board are saying major inflation is coming, others say major deflation is coming. I have no idea which way it's going, but I plan to take advantage of it either way.

Tell you what. When I figure out what to do, I'll post it. If you want to make money, make the opposite decision I come to.

Sounds similar to my situation, I bought a lot of GLD/SLV at ~$89/~$13 so don't feel bad.

I feel the same that whatever I do, market seems to do the opposite.

Well according to Peter Schiff, soon we'll get to laugh at the people that laughed at us.