Making the dreaded call today... - Democratic Underground

UnrepentantUnitarian

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Fri Oct-24-08 08:06 AM
Original message

Making the dreaded call today...

...to Merrill Lynch. Time to stop the bleeding. There are simply not enough years remaining for my wife and me to recover the thousands of dollars of "nestegg" that we've just lost. At this rate, in a few months there would not be anything left to cash out at all. I'm sure these folks have heard this story thousands of times by now. In fact, they're probably expecting it. Hey, I'm sure glad that those "fundamentals" are so strong!

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Bandit

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Fri Oct-24-08 08:21 AM
Response to Original message

1. Sorry for your loss

Invest in municiple bonds, they at least help your community and you don't lose anything..

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El Pinko

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Fri Oct-24-08 08:23 AM
Response to Original message

2. At the very least, you should wait until the next dead cat bounce to sell...

I understand your pessimism, but eventually things will recover, slowly but surely. I'm as pessimistic as they come, but selling everything when everyone is panicking doesn't necessarily seem like the best idea...

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SlowDownFast

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Fri Oct-24-08 10:39 AM
Response to Reply #2

6. "selling everything when everyone is panicking doesn't necessarily seem like the best idea..."

Edited on Fri Oct-24-08 10:40 AM by utopiansecretagent

This is true.

The time for selling was months ago.

You have to figure out how much you originally invested, NOT what you gained over the yearsin order to calculate your loss/risk to determine whether or not it's worth it (include the penalty for early withdrawal).

After you do that math, your choice should become clearer.

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HamdenRice

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Fri Oct-24-08 08:41 AM
Response to Original message

3. Think about this carefully. It may be too late. nt

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SlowDownFast

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Fri Oct-24-08 10:41 AM
Response to Reply #3

7. True, this.

See my post above.

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NeedleCast

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Fri Oct-24-08 08:47 AM
Response to Original message

4. If you're talking about a retirement account

this is the wrong move to make. If you are close to retirement, move your equities to bonds (which you should have done already).

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dhpgetsit

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Fri Oct-24-08 09:25 AM
Response to Original message

5. I hope you talked to an adviser.

I hate to see you cash out at a low.

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plaintiff

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Fri Oct-24-08 10:42 AM
Response to Original message

8. I have no good advice. I cashed out 4 months ago and thought I was awfully late -then-...

but if I hadn't done it, I'm not at all sure I would right now. Good luck either way!

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Sat May 04th 2024, 02:32 AM
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