Look for the average investor, do exactly what Hoosier said. Be aware of what is going on around you, and don’t panic first and foremost. If you have taken down a ton of debt, I would get your financial house in order.
Have some powder dry to buy when everybody is falling all over themselves to sell, and unless you are extremely sophisticated do not, I repeat do not, speculate in options or foreign currency. I learned early on sell hope, buy despair. You could look at your holdings and position yourself away from financials, consumer discretionary and riskier assets. I would also suggest looking at your mutual funds and making sure you understand exactly what they invest in and that they have not strayed from that.
This is a do as I say, not as I do.
Everything I post is meant for education purposes, not recommendations. I may change my mind and close out a trade and go the other way in the event I am wrong. I may not post this, so you don’t get the full trade. I trade for an IB...My job is to make the most money with the least amount of risk. I learned how to take a loss and preserve capital very early in my education and career. Honestly, I more proud of my ability to take a loss than my ability to make money on a trade.
For your 401k, and money that is slated for retirement, the problems in the Market/global economy will work themselves out despite the better efforts of those trying to thwart the downturn. No one is bigger than the market. This will create some wonderful opportunities.
There will be a time when I will be buying this market hand over fist and given the capital I have access to, will be leveraged as much as possible as I do so. That time is not now, and the more about bailouts, bottoms reached, that “this is not that big a deal”, or whatever else that is coming from “bubblevision”, the further out that time becomes. There is still way too much complacency out there for a meaningful bottom to be formed.
I also must say that I am never one sided, the market trades both ways. Meaning I am usually short, long, neutral…etc. This is the case for a bull mkt or bear mkt. My percentages change and how “long”, “short” or whatever changes depending on my views. I have trades that work over days, months, years, minutes, and hours. I have a short term bucket (book) and long term bucket.
What does this all mean? Average investors need to be aware of the bigger picture. It’s all about time preferences.