I lost a significant portion of my equity holdings in the downturn of 2008.
As you suggested in the Introduction, my #1 concern is: “How do I get my money
back?” I actually lie awake at night worrying about my 401(k): when will I be
able to retire? Will I be able to retire? I want my money back! Now! And I need
to know what course of action to take to get my money back…
Generally speaking, there are three courses of action you can take (or some
combination of all three):
The first is: stay in equities. Either:
1) do nothing and keep the position or positions you’re in that experienced the
loss and hope that those stock and mutual fund prices get back to where they
were before the crash; or
2) stay in equities but reposition into other stocks and mutual funds…and,
again, hope their performance brings your portfolio value back to where it was
pre-downturn.
But if I stay in equities, don’t I run the risk of losing even more of my
money?
Yes.
Staying in equities means that the value can be further eroded. That’s simply
the nature of the