Could I lose ALL my money in the stock market?

Question

I have not been panicking until now. What if I lose my entire retirement account? I have $588,000 left. I have good stocks and I am diversified. I am 58 and rely on this money to say in my home. I am so frightened. Broker says do not sell...ride it out.

Answer 1

listen to your broker! If you are diversified and have good stocks, they are just "on Sale" now. They will come back to a much higher price and you will feel more comfortable.

Most people sell at the wrong time.  They buy high when the market is feeling good, and sell low when there is blood on the streets. Do not fall into this trap.  Buy more of the good stocks at these discounts. Look in your portfolio and see if maybe you can switch some stocks that have held up better for some that are a great buy now.  You will be rewarded in the near future.

Answer 2

If you are as well diversified as it appears, take the advise of your broker and hang in there. Do not panic, history shows that the stock market always rebounds.

Answer 3

YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE ALL OF YOUR MONEY IN THE STOCKS IF YOU ARE 58 YEARS OLD NO MATTER HOW DIVERSIFIED!

Answer 4

To feel more secure, HEDGE ur current investment positions with the help of your broker, it will protect you from more losses, but shudnt affect your profits, if any..bt u need to put in more money for that

Answer 5

wow this is very risky investment way .

you need to reduce your risk rate..do not do this to your self.

my father in law lost over $170,000. this year .

please avoid banks, moratage,stocks.

oil,health car,and mining are v.good stocks these days.

but you need to be very slective and picky in this market.

the stock market are ugly these days.

please be carefull.

food cost,energy cost will reduce profit for food corps....it will go down this year.

my best wishes to you..

david--nabeel

Answer 6

What I am going to tell you is going to be painful. The truth always hurts, but this is to wake you up so you will not be in denial as a lot of people are today.

It is possible to lose a lot of money in the stock market--not all.

Consider this fact. When ENRON was at the $100 level, Wall Street was still shouting buy! From there, enron's stock price went down to around $1. From what you are saying here, if your "diversified" portfolio were to drop 99%, you wouldn't lose all of your money, but you wouldn't have much left either.

Now everyone is saying that you should hold on to your positions as the market will reverse, anytime soon, as it always did.

My question to you is this: will the stock market reverse in time knowing that you might lose your home soon? The market doesn't care. You should. You should do something to protect yourself.

It is to your broker's best interest to tell you to sit on your losing positions, not yours.

If you closed all positions that are causing you pain right now, your broker will look bad. His recommendations to you were losers. His/her reputation is tarnished.

If your broker was doing his/her job, your portfolio shouldn't be causing you so much pain, right? Your broker has earned his fees--they have already made money from you. If you closed your positions at a loss, your broker will lose you as a client. I wouldn't be surprised if your broker has lost a lot of clients sitting on his/her hands not doing anything to bail you out of this situation.

How much are your day to day expenses? $588,000 is still a lot of money. What are your other options?

Have you tried talking to an INDEPENDENT financial advisor? Ask them if there was a way to earn at least a percent each month off your remaining asset base with the least amount of risk.

Things may have to go worse before the dust settles. If you are afraid of losing your home because your investments are losing value, it's time to do something to protect yourself.

Hope this helps

- Jim http://jsforex.blogspot.com

Answer 7

DO NOT SELL..its very cheap right now so you lose money actually when the stocks rise then your money rises as well.

.be careful keep it diversied and you should be fine.

Answer 8

First, let me tell you I am also 58 years old and I am not a financial professional. My answer is based on my opinion and my experience with decades of investing.

(1) For all practical purposes unless you are leveraged you cannot lose all your money in the stock market if you are well diversified in good stocks.  However, you can lose noticeably more. (You are leveraged if you are using margin debt or derivatives for your stocks.)

(2) Selling everything at this time would probably be a mistake. I agree with your broker about that.

(3) If all you investments are in stocks your broker should have already encouraged you to put some of your investments into fixed rate instruments, such as bonds. Every reputable financial advisor I have heard has indicated that as we age the percentage of our investments in stocks should decrease.

(4) Stock market prices are driven by fear and greed, so when stocks go down you can be sure there are a lot of people who are frightened. You are not alone. You need to try to put most of your emotion aside and look at the stocks you own objectively. It may help to get an independent financial advisor to review your portfolio. Unlike your broker, he will not have a financial interest in your investments and will be able to tell you if you are as diversified as you think you are and if your stocks are as good as you think they are.

Answer 9

You shouldn't panic, but since you are getting close to your retirement shouldn't you have a portion of your retirement in some good bonds or a bond fund?  Like 25-50% depending on when you plan to retire.

Answer 10

In theory you could lose all your dough, however if you are invested in decent possitions this won't happen.

First off as a general rule dont listen to your broker unless you have a personal connection with him (or unless of course he is a good guy and is not just in the business to take your dough, most of them are). about 75% of "professionals" underpreform the market.

according to Ben Graham (Warren Buffett's teacher) you shouldn't be bothered by declines in value unless they are over 33% of the origional price or unless the stock is driven down by news which changes the fundamentals of the business (an example would be the recent news that indimac bancorp won't be making any new loans).

In terms of whether or not to sell right now all depends on the company. What you should do is read the 2007 (or most recent) annual report of a company and ascribe a value to their assests, subtract the debt and see if that is more or less than the current market cap. If assests value - debt is higher than the market cap hold on to the stock. If not you will need to decide what sort of growth potential the company has and how safe it is. If you believe that with the growth you believe the company will have the value of the company will be higher than the current market cap in a couple of years hold on. If not sell.

Answer 11

Stocks are always on shaky ground. In the long run, stocks always continue to rise. Currently, things are on a downswing.

You haven't "lost" anything yet, as long as you have not sold any stocks. You also, depending on when you want to retire, have 4 to 9 years before needing to cash some in.

Your choice.

I would think that in these few years the stocks you have may get back to more acceptable levels. You would have to decide for yourself. You can read all the financial articles or listen to the brokers or "experts" here, but it boils down to what you believe.

You have been around long enough to know that stock have gone way down and have seen mainly returns for those still in. A few companies close up but most stay in.

Answer 12

Lose all of your money, no.  Lose enough to make you get a second job, yes.

I expect there will be another rally by Oct., that's when I would get out.

I looked at the S&P performance from 2/15/98 to 2/15/08 - 4 down years, 01, 02 and 03 were bad  and 08 was down.  If you had $200K working in 98 it would be worth $217K in 08, so much for ride it out in my book.  If you could protect yourself from the downside - make nothng and lose nothing in the down years, but make the gains in the up years - that $200K would be $380K.  

Before you say, how nice, in a perfect world, know that there are products out there that will give you that protection.  In those products, that same $200K working  over the same period would be worth about $342K.  

Another option would be to move it to something paying bonuses, guaranteeing the principal and making gains with the market when the market is gaining. This would help you make back some of your losses right away.  Access to the money could be an issue, depending on when you need it.  These strategies always need to be customized to be appropriate.

At the minimum, I'd examine finding the right time to move into something fixed until we see a return to a robust market.  And look at all your alternatives, now that you're entering a new phase of life.

Good Luck

Answer 13

First of all this broker is only looking to keep the account the market for the obvious isnt going turn around anytime soon!!!

What alot of intellegent investors are doing is going the alternative idea approach playing on the sidelines waiting for the storm to pass before extending oneself agian!!! There are great avenues !!! Should you feel so compelled let me know I could poiont you in the right direction!!! [e-mail]

Answer 14

You are asking two questions:

1) Could I lose all  my money?

Yes of course, people are doing it all the time.

2) Should I sell?  

No, you missed the boat. You should have done so, when you saw the first clouds. All you can do now is sit still, say your prayers and hope we shall break even again in 5 years.

- In the next life, put all your savings in a mutual fund tracking the S&P500, early in life and live on the dividends. They are small initially but keep growing every year and soon overtake, the bank deposit a/c. Also they are effectively index linked and have no worries because the index cannot go bust.

Answer 15

yes you could, look at this , the two largest mortgage brokers have gone bust in the usa already and they account for a sizable percentage of all money invested in the us, so NEVER put all your eggs in one basket !!!

Answer 16

If you are well diversified it would be impossible for you to lose all your money. Selling out now would not make sense as prices have come down. When you go shopping for goods, do you wait for price to go up before you buy, or do you buy them when they go on sale. I can never understand why people turn this idea upside down when it comes to stock. They buy them like crazy when the prices are going up but want to bail out when the prices are going down, when they should be buying stocks as they are going on sale. Hang on, you'll do better in the long run.

Answer 17

Isn't that what they told people in the great depression. A stock broker doesn't want you to sell. But I would. My husbands stock had decreased by about 45% in the past few months. I would hate to see that happen to you. He has really good stock too. I would not ride it out. I would recommend talking with a specialist, not a broker.

Answer 18

Stocks will fluctuate.  That's why they're considered a long term investment (meaning 5 years or more.)  Money that you expect to need in cash in the next five years should not be in stock.  Beyond that, if these are major companies, sit tight.

You should have some sort of a reserve that's not in stocks.

Answer 19

I am a contrarian investor. It is a buy low sell high thing. Part of the reason is people like you panic and that is how I make my money.

What amazes me is that people are SO sensitive about their losses and forget their gains. From July '06 to July '07 the market went up about 30%. Did you even realize? Do you say "Time to sell"? You should have, I said it.

But going up 30% you ignore. Going down 20% you panic.

So imo the best way to keep your confidence is to keep a very good track of your investments OVER TIME. Seeing you are making some money over time, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little or a loss, yes, more over time will help you relax about shorter term trends.

A 30% gain is not normal. When I saw that I figured we would have to give some of it back. I told others. They mocked me.

So before you concern yourself about current losses make sure you are very familiar with your gains.

Good Luck.