I thought this phase of my career was past. I just got the RideWithGPS app, again, to keep track of my average and max speed, now that I'm back on the old route. I have a time trial built into it so I don't have to count the ride across Tixkokob and one other village in both directions. 20 km with no topes. I'm 15 pounds lighter than I was last time. And I have two healthy knees. Vamos a ver.
Another great ride in the books. It was not overly hot. Quite pleasant.

Fiber remains in mush.

Fixed

I think rules like that only apply to people who will have to rely on their total savings to live as they would like after they no longer work. For example, I have about 70% in the market whereas under your rule that should only be 35%. But, we have a portion of our equity holdings in buffered mutual fund investments that protect against the downside while capping the potential upside, which allows us the higher potential return of the market. And I still have a much higher than average income and expect to do so for the next 3 to 5 years. We also have some passive income that will not end at retirement. We are simply in a position where we can continue to take market risk.

On the other hand, I agree with you with respect to retirees. The ones that do not take steps to protect the principal likely either handle their investments themselves or have a family member do so, and those people are probably not very sophisticated financially.

I get a weekly report of our investments, and hate seeing the drops. But, that just means its time to put more in!

Understood. The market gyrations are not really important to me medically, but if patients are over-leveraged in the market it's going to affect their mental health.

I have no problem with a bear market. It happens. It's a great time to sit tight and keep buying.

I keep zero percent in the market. A gambler I am not. Unlike your patients, I like to sleep at night.

Might be nap time

That's your choice and it's reasonable, especially for someone who is older and/or risk adverse.

But realize that the market is not a scam or a losing proposition like a casino, where on average, you will end up losing your money. The market is not a fixed sum game, it does give the potential for good returns, on average.

So, you also like to sleep during day?

Exactly. We are older than you and are still at ~70% equities if you don't count the house. I also collect a military-type pension which would fund a double-wide lifestyle in a scenic Red state.

In times like these, I don't peek at the numbers and just do what I'm told. 2008 was much scarier, financially at least.

We-elll......
While I wouldn't go so far as to call it a scam, it is essentially gambling. It will go up when people expect it to go up and down when people expect it to go down, largely because of those expectations.

well....it depends on how you define gambling. There is some risk involved, so maybe. But it's clearly NOT in the same league as gambling in a casino or gambling on the horse races etc., because those are zero sum games where one person's winnings comes from another person's losses.

Prolly.

Oooh, I'm a little more aggressive than that. 65% in the market whereas I should only have 45% by that rule of thumb.

fair trade. after all a chihuahua is basically a rat anyway.

I think so. I hope so. This reminds me, I have an aunt who lost 50% of her savings in 2008. She could not accept any further risk, so she told me she was selling and getting out of the market.

I tried to explain to her she should BUY low and SELL high, but she was not ok with that. She would have done fine if she sat tight, but she sold it all.

Agreed, but I think you and I are essentially the same age. I hit 65 in about 2 months. You might be a year older. My wife's age might make us much younger in the aggregate.

2008 was much scarier. That's the year we bought our current house for well below the amount the builder spent building it. Good times!

I get no pension. :notamused:

2008 was an institutional crash with major financial entities going bust. There's none of that now. I am also old enough to remember the 70s in financial terms. I am much more worried about the economic and financial fallout of political instability.

Ah, right. I keep thinking I'm older than everyone.

I agree with you. But, I do enjoy a good few days of Blackjack. Sometimes Craps too.

You may not be much older, but I'll bet your not any slower!

It is gambling if you look at a stock and pick it based on whether you think it will go up or down based on popularity and things of that nature without researching the business and fully understanding what it does. But, it is not really gambling if you invest after studying the financials of the company, its history, and its trends. Its really no different than when I left one law firm to start my own. I knew the financial history of my book of business, what clients would stay with me based on my relationship with them, analyzed the costs, and created a business plan. Sure, there was some risk since I would not have a salaried pay check, but it was not a gamble.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, gambling is
the betting or staking of something of value, with consciousness of risk and hope of gain, on the outcome of a game, a contest, or an uncertain event whose result may be determined by chance or accident or have an unexpected result by reason of the bettor’s miscalculation.

So, really, buying stock fits the definition. It is entirely possible to lose all the money you bet on invest in a stock, because of unforeseen events. Valentine had it right when he said, in "Trading Places", "I get it! Y'all are a couple of bookies!"

That said, over the long term, it has yielded a pretty good return, and it is generally safer than betting on dogs or horses or which slot in a wheel a marble falls in.

It's greed/ financial FOMO. While the market is going up, especially by a lot, it's hard to keep money out of it because you don't want to give up "free money". And around when it feels irrational to not put ALL your money in the stock market/ housing market/ tulips/ whatever... it's going to start coming down.

That's like saying it's gambling if you pick a horse to bet on based on its name, but not if you base it on its previous race results.

My end-of-June paycheck was the one that maxed out my 401k. The gravy starts flowing tomorrow.