Today proved more interesting than most from a stock market perspective. . . at least to me.  On the way into the office, the Dow Futures were down 550 points which was the “limit down” meaning they couldn’t drop any further. It was expected to signal a horrible day for the market and it did indeed open down and slipped as far down as 500 points.  By the end of the day, the market was “ONLY” down 312 points or 3.59%.

Now… I’m not always the brightest crayon in the box and I’ve had a good bit of our savings (not our emergency fund mind you) in the market only to watch it whither over the past couple months.  I find myself constantly guessing that it can’t go down MUCH further… right? And yes, I said guessing, because quite honestly, I think that’s about the best that anyone can do at this point.  The market is not acting rational, which I guess in reality is just a nice way of saying it’s not doing what I would like it to do, which is turn around, or at least quit falling.

All of that said, I’m not a short term investor… so I do take some comfort in the general concensus that it will come back up… it’s just a matter of how much time you have to wait. And I’ve continued to buy more in some of my positions as they come down in order to “average down” and maximise my investment when the market eventually turns.  But I’m quickly getting to the point where I’m out of money to invest… and being fully invested is not really what I think the best strategy is right now.

There is concern from some, including Jim Cramer I hear, that many people are going to get their 401K statements this month, see how horrible they are, and pull their money making the issue we find ourselves in worse.  The truth is that now is probably the best time to increase your 401K contribution or other retirement contributions.  Pulling your money out of the market now is essentially subscribing to a “buy high, sell low” strategy… which is typically frowned upon by those who wish to increase their wealth.  Unless you have secret knowledge of exactly when the market will turn and exactly when to buy at the bottom (also known as timing the market)… then it’s probably not a very good strategy.  That’s why I’ll leave my investments right where they are. I’ll find ways to add a little here and there and hopefully in a few years our economy and my investment accounts will be back and stronger than ever.