Comments on: 8 Years Since the Market Crashed… How’s Your Money / Life Now?

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 15:03:39 +0000

In reply to SwordGuy. Beautiful!!! On all accounts! :)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 15:02:19 +0000

In reply to Becky.

I’m really glad it didn’t scare you away that much :) A lot of people lost a ton – pulled out – and then never put back in and weren’t able to recoup it :( You can’t always time the market and know when is best and worst, but if you have a lot of *time* on your side, it’s always better odds of it rallying. The worst is for those in retirement and pulling from it since you don’t have a choice but to pull out and you’re not buying anything on the cheap :(

By: SwordGuy

SwordGuy — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 00:26:59 +0000

1.September 16th, 2008?
I was mid-way thru a 1 year job in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia writing software for a government department.

2.Did the market crash scare you, motivate you, or were you too young to even care back then? (Don’t you dare say yes ;))

I was very far from a savvy investor, but I knew enough to do nothing about it other than keep investing in our 401Ks.

3.How’s your money doing now compared to then?

We’re doing very well! We were most of the way thru paying off all our debt (including mortgage) by then, we then rolled those same payments into maxing up our 401Ks.
About 4 years ago I ran across the financial independence blogs and forums and they really transformed things for us.

4.How do you feel about the stock market today?
Uncertain! That’s why our FI strategy has 4 legs, Social Security, Rental Property Income, passive Farm Income, and Stock Market returns. If the market gets average results we’ll be splendidly well off and if it doesn’t, well be just fine (and our kids will inherit a bunch of stock we never sold ’cause the price was too low).

5.What’s your stock/fund of choice? (If you don’t invest, where do you put your $$ instead?)

Vanguard’s VTSAX is the stock fund of choice. I’m also a real fan of rental property.

6.*BONUS* What’s been your biggest accomplishment in 8 years? In money or life in general?

Money-wise, based on what we learned from the FI online community, we cut 12 years off my expected retirement age. That’s a lot of days of freedom! Thanks!

Life-wise, we celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary and 36th anniversary of being together. Plans for more years are still very firm. :)

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 14:08:25 +0000

In reply to J. Money. I should post a video of my 7 year old son repeatedly trying to get a back handspring on my bed last night. I was cringing with fear that he was going to break his neck but he was so bound and determined to get it that I couldn't stop him. He successfully got the back handspring by the way. I have no idea how we have never been to the emergency room by now...(I'm knocking on wood) LOL

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 10:55:47 +0000

In reply to Beth.

Awww, haha…. it was fun hearing your story! And totally agree with kids too! (though I prefer to stay out of the emergency room when making life non-boring, haha… they’re always getting hurt!)

By: Becky

Becky — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 21:13:49 +0000

I was a freshly married 22-year old with a husband in college and had been working for nearly 1 year at my office job. I have always been cheap/frugal/whatever but the economy tanking really made me stick to my frugality that much more, especially since I was bringing in the only income while my husband when to college full-time. I remember thinking at first that the stock market should have no effect on me since the only money I had in stocks was less than a year’s worth of 401(k) input. Little did I know it affected the cost of nearly everything. That is still the only place I have investments, but I have more in there now. I’m still a little leery of the stock market, but once we get our debts gone, I want to focus more on putting some money in the market.

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 19:21:06 +0000

I totally didn’t mean to write that much! But I can’t wait to do it again in 8 years. :)

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 19:20:20 +0000

This is a fun game! And pretty funny to me too…

1.Where were you/what were you doing around September 16th, 2008?
I was 26, had recently graduated college and just got my first ‘big girl’ job working with retirement plans. So I came in to the industry at the BEST time…lol. Week 1 on the job I was getting panicked phone calls from plan participants about their retirement funds. Plans lost almost half of their market values! I don’t think I would have ever grasped the severity of the crash if I hadn’t been in this new job.
2.Did the market crash scare you, motivate you, or were you too young to even care back then? (Don’t you dare say yes ;))
Like I said, if I wouldn’t have been at my job at that exact time I think the crash would have scared me and intimidated me. BUT – thankfully I came in to the industry realizing how serious this was and it actually motivated to be better with my money all-around.
3.How’s your money doing now compared to then?
Since the market crash motivated me I would say my money is doing better than it would have had I not worked in the industry during the crash. I am still improving but I definitely wised up and figured out how important it was to save and not have debt.
4.How do you feel about the stock market today?
Today I just wish everyone would not overreact in regards to their investments to every single thing that happens in this world. Yellen says ‘boo’ and the market is down. It drives me nuts! What goes up must come down and vice versa. If you can ride out the market’s ups and downs it will be worth it in the end. Just chill…LOL
5.What’s your stock/fund of choice? (If you don’t invest, where do you put your $$ instead?)
My funds are mostly in Vanguard mutual funds across the board; fixed and equity (small, mid, large, int’l, emerging mkts, etc..) – and my emergency fund is just in a savings account.
6.*BONUS* What’s been your biggest accomplishment in 8 years? In money or life in general?
My biggest accomplishment are my kids – they are the best and my life would be a bore without them. :) I would say that it is in big part due to them that I graduated college, worked hard to get a decent paying job and try to be smart with my money. They motivate me.

By: Ms. Montana

Ms. Montana — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 18:21:40 +0000

In reply to J. Money. Sometimes I suggest that we could be doing more, and Mr. Mt looks at me like a crazy person.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 21:09:08 +0000

1. I’d just bought my first house and changed job to join a national uk housebuilder whose shares were suspended as they plummeted to next to nothing!
2. It scared me but probably not as much as some, mainly because I was young and confident in my job prospects even if my new job went belly up
3. I’m increasing my exposure to stocks to try and balance my investments after 2 years of extreme property investing.
4. I’ve worked in UK property since the crash and have spent the ensuing years investing in that as its what I know best. I’m now trying to rebalance with whole-world trackers, eliminating home bias in my pensions and buying in my ISAs
5. Biggest money accomplishment? Upgrading to a new, bigger house whilst keeping my old place for rental, even when the new place turned into a complete moneypit. A year and a half later the new place is sorted, the old place has made good money and all the stress and risk was worth it.