I Am OUT of the Market . . . and Hating It
So I’m finally transferring my Roth IRA from Scottrade to Vanguard after finding out that you can have two Roths at two different brokerage houses. The reason I needed to know that before making the switch is because I want to hold on to my one B share of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) without having to open a Brokerage Account with Vanguard, which is too expensive. Now I’ll be able to open a Roth with Vanguard that will contain only cheap index funds (the cheapest, as far as I know) that track exactly what I want. The best of both worlds!
But anyway, that means right now I liquidated my funds and am waiting for them to clear so I can transfer them to Vanguard. Yesterday was the first day I wasn’t invested in the market in I don’t know how long.
Why am I stressed out?
Because being out of the market when it has one of its best days can cost you a lot of money. Besides, being a long-term investor, I don’t like that I just took my money out amidst all this talk of recession, slowdown, and so on. I proud myself on not getting skiddish and bailing out.
But that’s what I’ve done. It just so happens I’m doing it now because I just found out about the whole two Roths deal.
In the end it’s definitely worth it because I will be owning cheaper funds (half as cheap as what I’m paying now) and I’ll be exposed to exactly the markets I want to be exposed to with a great deal of diversification.
It may suck right now, but after I move everything over to Vanguard I’ll be all set until I retire. No more bouncing around.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Don’t worry, it’ll probably go down again. After all, lowering interest rates doesn’t really fix the problem of too much credit and the crazy unprofitable business projects that tend to go along with easy credit. The only time when you want the market to be up is when you sell. Other than that, down is good.
January 29th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Ok, so I’ve gotta ask: What is so sacred about your Berk B share?
January 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Well, for one it’s Warren Buffett, one of the single greatest investors of our time. Also, look at the annualized returns compared to the S&P here.
If you want to know more about Buffett the man, check out Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist. I could go on and on about this guy, but in short he embodies all that is noble, good, and effective in the investment world.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:27 am
[...] finances on autopilot. This month feels disjointed and like everything is on hold (my Roth IRA is in transit too, so even that is static) so I can’t wait to get back to normal and start saving like [...]