Hi Kathy, Only my country funds and the small cap fund that I own did any more buying than you experienced. My larger cap fund - TWCUX - managed to trigger 4 buys since the beginning of August.
As you know, the small caps were bashed hard, even worthy of a true bear market. The larger caps were hit, but not to the same extent. If for no other reason, the small caps should rebound further because they were hit the hardest.
In the family, there was a wonderful defacto stamp collection. My grandfather had worked for the Santa Fe railroad at the turn of the century and used to send his fiancee, my grandmother, postcards from all over the old west. The pictures looked like CowBoy movie sets with boardwalks and mud streets. I believe most of the stamps were 2 cents. Also in the collection were postcards from Europe and South America. Lots of fun to go through them. Not sure they were worth anything, however.
It sounds like you have the "tax free" luxury of many "vealies" in your future if your account is still too heavy in cash. I highly recommend this. I had three years or more of them in one of my mutual fund accounts with no taxable events while I let the market and AIM reduce the percent of the account in cash. "Vealies" as the market rose and AIM buys as the market dipped. Eventually the account was reduced from 50% cash reserve to its current 20%-21% level. I was taking income off the cash reserve so wasn't willing to commit it to the market unless AIM said to. However, because it was so large, I couldn't see increasing my tax burden by continued selling.
That account had been diluted from about 50% cash reserve to about 35% cash reserve just by the growth of the equity side of the equation. I kept about 2/3 of the Cash Reserve in a short term govt bond account and the remainder in the mutual's Money Market Fund. This recent trashing of the market drew the cash down from mid 30% range to its current 20%. Now I'm all set for a rally and to start to "share" with Uncle Sam as I rebuild the reserve over time. Right now the Idiot Wave is calling for just 19% cash reserve, so I don't need to sell right away. I'll do "vealies" for a while until market risk starts to rise again.
Good to hear from you. Number One Daughter is in college in central Ohio. I remember your rather busy Pre College year a couple of years ago with your daughter! How's she doing?
Berst regards, Tom |
