Musical Chairs in your Portfolio

I think everyone should think long and hard about what they will do in their accounts if we do see a nasty market downturn. And keep in mind, it may not necessarily be "sell and wait it out" OR "hold everything and wait it out".

Remember that most of the stocks I'm into here are VERY high beta. That means whatever the "normal" market return is, my returns are at a higher multiple. If and when the markets are doing well, say a 1% return on the day, I may see a 1.5 to a 2% return. However, when the market goes down 15%, what is the Portfolio 24 going to do?

I personally have to really think about this because I do not have any new cash going into my accounts. When I want to buy something, I have to sell something else first. And when everything is "on sale" (i.e. going to crap) everything I want to sell has already gone down, too.

I am looking at the general market .... shrugging off everything from wars to state secret leaks, to Mastercard getting hacked and hedge funds liquidating, to tax breaks being maintained in the face of nearly unsurmountable deficits, to North Korea making waves, to Christmas spending being crazy in the light of our unemployment.... and ask "when the music is going to stop"?

Make sure you have a chair, is all I'm saying.

Regards,
Trond