Managing investments in a downturn - No politics!

I don't begrudge anyone their success, if come by honestly and ethically, but it's funny, for lack of a better word, to see how freely people mention their wealth here. Apparently that's the done thing now
 

I don't think anyone is showing off their wealth. They are sharing that they used the tools available to build wealth for retirement. I think it's inspirational and wish I was exposed to that in my 20's. I don't see it much differently than sharing how people built awesome Challenge cars. 

Not talking about money is a poverty mindset. And it fails those that adhere to it. Money remains mysterious and you worry about it but don't learn about it. 

In reply to dculberson :

I wish someone could have explained how hard compound interest could berkeley you when I was young and stupid.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

As I have experienced, wealth on this forum has never been hidden.  There's at least one person who will have many multi millions when they retire.

For your customer experience, I would have told him to pound sand.  As has been pointed out, he hadn't lost anything other than current value.  And given the probable outcome, he would have come ahead, as most staying buying during the dip.  It certainly didn't hurt us.  Pretty terrible for someone to ask for a discount like that, even if they had no concept how the person they were talking to was dealing with life.  Include that info, I would have considered doubling the price.  The people hurt in down turns are rarely the ones using market investments (of course not counting people who panicked and sold everything).

ShawnG said:

In reply to dculberson :

I wish someone could have explained how hard compound interest could berkeley you when I was young and stupid.

Oddly enough, talking about basic home economics (not cooking and sewing, real money) was actually taught in the public HS I went to.  Given where it is, I doubt they include that these days.  But that also means that you had to pay attention in HS... LOL.

dculberson said:

Not talking about money is a poverty mindset. And it fails those that adhere to it. Money remains mysterious and you worry about it but don't learn about it. 

Talking about how money works, and how to manage it, is essential.  I get that, and have dealt with it myself, directly and indirectly.  The point is that humility can be overlooked if one is not careful, and that gets under my skin.  I am probably also especially sensitive given my own, uh, modest outlook, and my prior experience with one particular individual.

The forbidden wish (there's some irony here, but so be it) has been edited in the interest of gentility.

In reply to alfadriver :

We got a 1 semester class called "business education" where we were taught how to write a resume, give group presentations and do some basic marketing but that's it.

We also had classes on sewing and cooking.

Grassroots finance for me means keep pushing as much money out of my line of sight as I can. Mainly into my 401k. I've been fortunate to do that for 31 years so far. If I got a raise, the bump went straight toward the 401k first. It'll take a few more years before I can walk away from working for the man, but the strategy is working.

Hopefully things calm down soon.  I'm gonna stick with the plan regardless.

The sob about 401k and ira is that you have to be old to take out without penalties. Having some diversity thrown in about a decade ago instead of tax deferred would have been better. I could retire today or do a pivot to different things but can't touch it without a 10% penalty. The best advice I got as a younger professional was how time compound interest is your biggest asset. Its worked but nuance helps too over the longer run. 
 

I'm in the same boat on trying to make a better defense strategy, and outsourcing it is the most promising option. I have an inactive 401k I will move to a managed ira with some more options and similar fee structure. 
 

The only individial investment I have is my side gig and long term thats not the best bet but keeps me busy. 

You can access them early with a 72(t) distribution.

TravisTheHuman said:

You can access them early with a 72(t) distribution.

Exactly- don't transfer the 401k, see if you are eligible to access it before 59.5.