Buy & Hold Investors

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I've been away from the computer for awhile, so I thought that upon my return to my favorite cyber hangout, I should ask a timely, and hopefully provocative, question.

How are all of you "buy & hold" investors faring these days? I don't mean financially, of course, but mentally? Is it tough to hang in there for the long term while your portfolio takes a beating, or is it a relatively easy task, especially with all of the Fidelity commercials and whatnot on CNBC?

By the way, better buckle up for tomorrow, Intel had some more bad news after the close today.

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), March 09, 2001

Answers

feeling numb and dumb

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), March 09, 2001.

I'm only about 40% as happy as I was in 3/2000. I didn't hold onto everything, and a big chunk that I did hang on to is something that I know will shoot back up as soon as we're out of these doldrums. The sheer power of my faith will propel it.

-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), March 09, 2001.

And here's the Intel story that J anticipated:

                  -TOP STORIES-

** Intel Cutting 6% of Jobs Amid Widening Slump

Saying that the slump in PC sales has spread to networking, communications, and servers, chipmaker Intel is warning that first-quarter revenue won't meet expectations, and that it will cut 5,000 jobs over the next nine months.

Intel says revenue for the quarter should be down about 25% from the fourth quarter's $8.7 billion. It had said that revenues would drop 15%.

Intel execs were not immediately available to comment. During an Intel conference last week, CEO Craig Barrett said the U.S. economy was experiencing a "definite slowdown," but he vowed at the time not to cut R&D or investments in manufacturing capacity. On Thursday, however, the company said it would snip 2% off R&D this year, to $4.2 billion from the $4.3 billion originally planned. Intel said it won't reduce capital spending, which remains at $7.5 billion for the year. - Paul McDougall



-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), March 09, 2001.

And I am adding to my Intel position as I speak..... I have always followed dollar cost averaging, so this is a great chance for me to lower my overall cost basis. I believe in the strenght of Intel for future growth. My time horizon is also measured in decades, so I can tolerate a lot of risk now. Still hurts like hell at times, but I don't invest money I don't have or meant for other things (like paying off a credit card). I own Lucent too. This stock I am NOT buying as I've lost my ass on this one! Bought when it was in the low $70's, today it's just above $12.00. I am also not solely in tech's, I own stocks in the financial sector, drug sector and the energy sector. While my tech stocks are down around 40% in the last year, gains in the other sectors have me, overall, about even for the past year.

-- Rob (celtic64@inficad.com), March 09, 2001.

If your even for the year, you haven't made any money. You would have been better off putting your money in a high-yield paying CD. I'm making 7.25% on my CD's and it's safe. The market right now is down 195 points, the NASDAQ is down 95, and the S&P is down 25. Don't expect an interest rate cut with the market going down. I plan to wait it out for a while. This is a buying opportunity no doubt, but it's also a risky one. BTW, the NASDAQ has lost over 65% of it's value - someone got burned....

-- CD (CD@7.25%.cdd), March 09, 2001.


One year ago today the Nasdaq closed over 5000 for the 1st time. Today it is at 2050.

-- (gn@shing.of_teeth), March 09, 2001.

I got paranoid about Y2K and dumped my stocks in the winter of '99'. Took a small loss. Relatively!

-- Porky (Porky@in.cellblockD), March 09, 2001.

If your even for the year, you haven't made any money. You would have been better off putting your money in a high-yield paying CD. I'm making 7.25% on my CD's and it's safe. The market right now is down 195 points, the NASDAQ is down 95, and the S&P is down 25. Don't expect an interest rate cut with the market going down. I plan to wait it out for a while. This is a buying opportunity no doubt, but it's also a risky one. BTW, the NASDAQ has lost over 65% of it's value - someone got burned....

-- CD (CD@7.25%.cdd), March 09, 2001. ==========================

But I haven't lost any money yet either as I haven't sold a thing. I'm in this for 30 to 40 years, not a couple of months like many folks. To me, 7.25% on a CD isn't worth the trouble. Maybe it is for people with shorter time horizons than mine, but I can take the chances now for potential bigger returns long down the road.

-- Rob (celtic64@inficad.com), March 09, 2001.


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