On January 17th, we closed at 12,795.63
Today (24th, @ 10:11am) we are at 12,876.53

Short term abberations are standard, and no one can figure them out. If you are a long term investor, they shouldn’t matter.

I remember reading somewhere that during the crash of Black Monday when the markets lost around 20%, Warren Buffett was playing bridge at the time, and when informed of the market action, just kept on playing. I don’t know if that is a true story or not since I heard/read it many, many years ago, but sounds like him, doesn’t it? :)

I subsequently read where John Bogle says that anyone who can’t imagine a 20% drop in the markets shouldn’t invest in stocks, So I took my numbers and worked a 20% drop into them and then a 30% drop just "for fun". It was gut wrenching to see the numbers, but confirmed my asset allocation was right for me. I was away last week and watched each day from Tuesday though Friday while I lost 2.5% per day. Then Monday and Tuesday happened. I’m bruised but not broken.

One interesting thing was seeing a 600 point drop on Monday followed by a 500 point recovery on Tueday. If one were to have slept through Monday, one would see a 100 point drop Tueday from Friday and wouldn’t be terribly concerned.

I have is my RRSP and I contribute with an amount from my salary bi-weekly. I also buy stocks from my company as they match 50% at the end of the year. I can see the price is coming down, but I didn’t change anything. IMHO, I really don’t know if it is a good or a bad thing.

That’s why I’m still learning. Hopefully, I’m doing right.

For the other 99% of the population, I think 10 minutes is the average amount of time spent on asset allocation.

Traciatim – I agree, you should start a blog – or maybe you would like access to this blog through a few guest posts perhaps? To see if you like it? :) Let me know!

I have put way too much time into my asset allocation but I have to admit that the market decline doesn’t bother me at all – in fact I am drooling at the buying opps!

Mike

Now that I’m going for retirement in 37 years I’m 100% in equities in the RRSP. It’s taken a hit lateley, but I don’t even remember my logins to check. I have it fairly even in a Canadian, US, International mix that I like. I’ll check it in a few years.

For my sons RESP I have a similar mix. He is 3, I’m using TD E-Funds. I actually used todays drop to move my contributions (which go in to a money market fund) in to the E series Canadian Index, the E series US Index (Canadian Dollar) and the E Series International Index. Is it a smart move? Maybe not . . . I’ll know in 2009 . . . but I have about 15-17 years to recover. When he turns 10 I plan to start easing off slowly each year, but until then it’s full steam ahead.

After my spouse is back to a full time income rather than school and building her business I think I’ll switch the RRSP over to income based investments and go for gains and dividends outside to be a little more tax efficient. I’d really like to get ahead of my finances and eventually have equal incomes from investments and my work. That way, if either one fails I just fall back on the other. I dream of the day my plan becomes a reality.

As for the question of how much time? I’m not sure, if you spend all the time I spend reading about personal finance, then days. If you just take the time actually figuring out what I think is best and implementing it then I would say a couple hours.