Althouse: At the Sunlit Café...

May 24, 2013

At the Sunlit Café...

... you can talk all afternoon.

22 comments:

Rabel said...: A question for anyone with an opinion.

I, a late 50-something involuntary but comfortable retiree, have about 20% of my savings in the stock market. I'm thinking about selling out -today- and sitting on the sideline for a while.

What do you think?; 5/24/13, 12:45 PM
Nonapod said...: We're a step closer to those glowy spaceship thrusters that've been a mainstay in scifi movies for decades.; 5/24/13, 12:46 PM
edutcher said...: Please, Madame, if you have any of that sunlit to spare, send it our way.

Especially if it's warm.

PS Rabel, everything I've heard for a year or so is the smart money's getting out. Our financial advisors told us pretty much the same thing.

Check with someone who knows, but you may be glad you followed your gut.; 5/24/13, 12:52 PM
Sorun said...: I shorted Facebook the other day. Psst, Facebook sucks, pass it on.; 5/24/13, 1:12 PM
traditionalguy said...: You have started a Hosta frenzy around my house. Thanks a lot.; 5/24/13, 1:15 PM
Unknown said...: Rable
I wish we'd gotten out before the housing bubble burst. I have no plans to get back in.
Probably not helpful at all.; 5/24/13, 1:31 PM
gerry said...: I've been in the market for decades. Buy quality and hold, go for low-PE stocks (they are boring and usually steady), and know you cannot time the market.

If it would make you happy to get out, and you won't lose a fortune, DO IT.; 5/24/13, 1:37 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Rabel,

There's is nothing wrong with locking in a profit. Especially if you've been in stocks since 2009.

Nobody knows what the market will do the rest of the year. I wouldn't be at all surprised by a summer correction. However, I'm wrong more often than right. If you're starting to feel uncomfortable but haven't given up on the current rally, consider selling a portion of your holdings, say 10%, as a hedge.; 5/24/13, 1:38 PM
Rabel said...: Bushman,

Thanks for the opinion. The 20% that I have left in equities ia all in a single mutual fund that I've owned for 18 years. It is outside of my IRA. The 10% idea is good, but cost basis is going to be a bitch so I'd rather just do it all at once, then go back in inside the IRA.

gerry,

Right, you can't time the market. But you can try.

edutcher,

Thanks, but if there is one thing I am certain of, it's that nobody, investment professional or not, knows what the market will do. Well, a few people may, but they're not going to tell me or a Fidelity advisor.; 5/24/13, 1:57 PM
chickelit said...: The leaves would be obscenely erotic for a Vulcan. Or a color-blind man.; 5/24/13, 2:05 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Don't ever, ever, ever buy a Sub-Zero.; 5/24/13, 2:18 PM
Rabel said...: Sold! I predict Dow 20,000 by mid-summer.; 5/24/13, 2:47 PM
edutcher said...: You're right about nobody knowing, but we're in conditions awfully reminiscent of September '08 and history has an ugly way of repeating itself. So, you have a choice, go with the track record or take the big gamble?

As a great American marksman once intoned, "You have to ask yourself one big question, 'Do I feel lucky?'".

I'm just playing safe, rather than sorry.; 5/24/13, 3:00 PM
pm317 said...: I went around looking at my hostas in my garden. They are gigantic.

Meade, care to share your trick on how you contain them?; 5/24/13, 3:16 PM
edutcher said...: Just because things are quiet here, let me throw this out:

Was Choom having a little blow when Benghazi went down??

You'll want to take the source into consideration before you buy it, but, considering the Choom Gang won't even say where the Choomster-In-Chief was, it makes as much sense as anything else.; 5/24/13, 3:52 PM
Meade said...: "Meade, care to share your trick on how you contain them?"

I don't contain them. They're not invasive. But if a clump gets too large, I take a spade, slice into the root mass as if it's a cake buried in the ground, pry up and replant the root section I want to move, and leave the rest of the roots right where they were. Google "divide hosta" for more elaborate instructions.; 5/24/13, 4:18 PM
pm317 said...: Thanks, Meade. oh, containment is tied to invasion, I get it. I will argue, what you describe is one kind of containment. :); 5/24/13, 4:23 PM
pm317 said...: edutcher said...
--------------

I doubt that the 10 PM phone call between Hillary and Obama ever happened. It was Hillary who said that it happened and I suspect she was trying to cover his sorry ass. If he was really there, there would be a picture of him talking to her. And there isn't.; 5/24/13, 4:27 PM
edutcher said...: As I say, keep in mind the source - both the blog and the writer.; 5/24/13, 4:35 PM
edutcher said...: FWIW, looks like the Silver Haired Angel of Death's shakedown is being ratcheted up.; 5/24/13, 6:16 PM
edutcher said...: And doesn't this qualify as perjury, therefore an impeachable offense?; 5/24/13, 6:18 PM
chickelit said...: @edutcher: If not impeachable, at least "impearable"

Impair Holder!; 5/24/13, 7:46 PM