It has only been just over one month since my last adjustment to my 401(k) allocations, so it is way too early for me to reconsider my choices (or second-guess them) but if this past month has been any indication on what to expect in the next two months, then I did some very, very poor guesses! LOL, which is a good thing because I am not taking an "all-in, all-out" approach.
Regardless, I never would have expected the market recovery to be as stable as it has been. It did not surprise me when it crossed the 8,000 threshold at the time it did, but I honestly expected it to pop up to as high as 8,300, then immediately retreat down past 8,000 again, and the market has done no such thing! It feels as though there is an understanding that 8,000 is not going to be broken again, and even little retreats such as today (which was no "little" 2%) will not spurn a larger drop like the one that would take it below 8,000 again. But, as always, I could be wrong!
Honestly, I was ready to put some money into the Total Stock Market Index fund several weeks ago when it was sitting in the low $20's, except I felt the market should dip below 8,000 (which would most likely knock it down past $20), but I had enough doubt in my judgment to put an amount in that day (not as large as I had initially considered, because I was thinking I'd just toss in the remaining amount when/if the market fell under 8,000) so at least I got that upswing; plus is lowered my Average Cost per Share!
But it reminded me of one of the clichés that I would tell callers when the younger people would inquire "when is the best time to start investing?" My answer was always "Now," with the explanation that "once you start investing, you can change things around and learn what you don't know as you play, but if you're sitting on the sidelines the whole time and hoping to learn everything before you begin, then you can miss the whole game."
