Collectibles Markets vs Economy - Why does it have to be this way?

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

FWIW (maybe not much) the S&P 500 is up more than 17% YTD. Not all is doom and gloom.

I contribute to my 401k. 31% to be exact. You can say the S&P is up. I am STILL in the hole from my peak around 4 years ago, under a different administration. And that is with me steady dumping 31% a year. Yes, I am glad the market is up this year. Yes, we are still in the hole. Those are facts.

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I contribute to my 401k. 31% to be exact. You can say the S&P is up. I am STILL in the hole from my peak around 4 years ago, under a different administration. And that is with me steady dumping 31% a year. Yes, I am glad the market is up this year. Yes, we are still in the hole. Those are facts.

Robert, I don't see how you can be in the hole if you have been investing in broad-based mutual funds. Here's how the S&P 500 has done over the time frame you mention. Soryy that my copy-and-paste effort didn't turn out well. The annual % change is the far right column.

S&P 500 Index - Historical Annual Data

Year Average
Closing Year Open Year High Year Low Year Close Annual
Price % Change
2023 4,234.16 3,824.14 4,588.96 3,808.10 4,495.70 17.09%
2022 4,097.49 4,796.56 4,796.56 3,577.03 3,839.50 -19.44%
2021 4,273.41 3,700.65 4,793.06 3,700.65 4,766.18 26.89%
2020 3,217.86 3,257.85 3,756.07 2,237.40 3,756.07 16.26%
2019 2,913.36 2,510.03 3,240.02 2,447.89 3,230.78 28.88%

[raulus]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I contribute to my 401k. 31% to be exact. You can say the S&P is up. I am STILL in the hole from my peak around 4 years ago, under a different administration. And that is with me steady dumping 31% a year. Yes, I am glad the market is up this year. Yes, we are still in the hole. Those are facts.

Somewhat paradoxically, we all should root for a gigantic bear market during our working years, followed by a raging bull market when we retire.

The general idea is to allow us to buy lots of stocks on the cheap while we're in acquisition mode, and then they all pop right before we retire, and we slowly liquidate during the bull market, getting top dollar for our investments.

So maybe we can all be thankful that the market was down for a bit to allow us to buy some more on the cheap?