Hi Don, Nice to see your smiling electrons again! Wow that's a scary story just in time for Halloween!
As much as it might have seemed that my brother and I were intellectualizing back then, we were both rather on edge.
A fellow I knew from when I sold capital goods called me on the 19th. He was about 1 year from retirement and we'd all received a big rollover retirement account when our company had been sold. He'd put it into solid mutual funds of the day and the value had grown for about two years prior to the "crash." He was an engineer, not an investor, and he was scared poopless.
He asked, "Should I sell it all even though I have no idea what I'll get?" I told him, "No, don't sell, just let the dust settle and you should be fine. At worst you'll probably give back some of the last two years gains."
He said, "I can't just sit. This is my retirement money."
I replied, "If you can't resist doing something, then just sell half, then you'll only be half wrong no matter how it turns out." He said he'd think about that. (see, I was already thinking like AIM, build a cash reserve!)
Since I no longer worked with this guy I didn't see him until the next summer. I was out golfing and ran into him. He said, "Don't even ask! I couldn't resist and sold it all, probably got the worst price I could have. And now because the market's started back up, I've been afraid to put the money back to work."
He and I talked for a while, but that was about the last time. It seems being right about something as emotional as the "crash" was more than our friendship could take.
Those were crazy days!
Best regards, Tom |
