| It's a tough environment for investing right now. If you leave it idle in the bank it loses 8.3% per year. The big index funds like S&P 500 haven't done well because most sectors have been down. In that case you would have lost ~13.3% since the start of the year and half the inflation rate so around 17.45%. You could expect to lose about that much if the current rate continues and inflation stays up. (Hopefully they get better) Most ETFs have done similar to the index funds. Normally bonds would do well when the stock market goes down. It's gotten tougher since bonds now need to have a yield higher than inflation. You could try checking out some of the government bond options that are inflation protected like I bonds or treasury inflation protected securities. They take a while to mature though. If you wanted to try a more active approach, mimicking Berkshire Hathaway's holdings and riding their coattails works. They have a value investing approach which fairs better during down markets. They've also shifted into oil pretty heavily which has been great this year. It's not totally passive since it requires setting up and updating every couple of quarters. It pays a bit better than the fully passive options though. If you have the long view of investing over decades then a little 10% blip is nothing since things come back over time. Like others have said, the bogglehead approach is pretty solid. One other thing to watch for is expense ratios on actively managed funds. They tend to chew through your earnings over the long-term. |
Put another way, investing now for the long haul is 13.3% better than before.