We are in the “hard times create hard men” part of the cycle.
Meanwhile, genx:
Yeah kinda. We’ve gone through everything that the Millennials have plus some.
In my years, I’ve lost a home, two cars, four careers, buried 5 close family members including parents and a sibling. Been an alcoholic, recovered. Had severe depression. Recovered. Had Nearly lost my partner to illness and helped her learn to walk and eat again. Been so broke a few times that I was stealing water from construction sites so we could flush our toilet. Laid to rest a dozen beloved pets. Said goodbye more times than hello.
I’m back on my feet, starting over. Again. A little wiser, a little more battered and scarred up, a lot more tired. Missing a few teeth and all my hair, but still going.
The world right now is a massive mess, don’t get me wrong. We’re in real trouble. But at this point I don’t think anything short of an actual band of raiders with halberds chasing me down through the woods is going to end this ride for me. At this rate, might happen.
I used to roll my eyes when older people said that time keeps repeating, that everything happens over and over again.
Then I got old and started seeing everyone making the same damn mistakes over and over and over again, the same events recycling but with new actors, people not learning from the past, not working together, not writing things down so we don’t forget, and yeah, I DO get it now. The adult blackpill is a lot darker and more bitter than the one you swallow when you’re an irate teen who thinks the world owes you something. I would love to go back in time and have that energy again.
You got to buy houses at a reasonable price and had proper student unions, don’t @ me.
I’ve learned from being an adult through four crashes.
My portfolio has literally done better this month than any month in its history. 🤷
Edit: doubt or hate all you want lmao. Not here to argue.
The last three years have produced some of the most outrageously good returns in the market’s history. Like, throw your money in the S&P and get 25% ROI any-idiot-can-get-rich levels of good returns.
What the hell have you done with your portfolio that you missed all of it?
I believe it.
The lesson I learned growing up in the 2008 crash, and hearing about the dotcom bubble, is “the finance guys will screw something up, they can’t help themselves.” Hence I have a small, long term short against the Russel 3000 in my portfolio to “counterbalance” random whole market nonsense. Not as extreme as OP, but I can totally see someone being cynical and shorting a lot at the start of the year.
Prior to inauguration day, I balanced my portfolio to favor bets against the s&p 500 (SQQQ, TSLZ, SPXS, …)
I kept enough of my exposure to the s&p 500 to not be an idiot here. Basically while the s&p went down $1, I went up about $1.25. and also the opposite.
Then, as my assumptions appeared correct, I starting making aggressive puts against DJT, RDDT, and many others. Employing a common bear market technique referred to as “shopping for lottery tickets.”
But whatever, haters gonna hate. :)
Throw gen z in there. We start at 1997
You should expect about one recession every 5-10 years.
They are all “once in a lifetime” in their own way if you want to sell news headlines.
The covid one is really the only one that really stands out as being a unique naturally caused crash, but what makes it most unique isn’t the market stuff at all.
This one has been just waiting to happen for a while, but this one being intentionally caused is fairly unique, I guess.
The size of the dotcom + great recession combined is fairly unique, making immediately before the dotcom bust one of the worst times you could have retired in the US since at least the great depression. But that doesn’t affect millennials directly and it’s the affect of two back to make crashes.
Yeah, the Trump Recession (we hope not a full-blown depression) will have been uniquely caused as well. Definitely one for the history books.
