What do y'all do for a living?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Yep, big swings can and do happen. I've weathered all the financial storms between 2000 and now. I never moved my money. Just let it be and it always recovered and quite substantially. Sometimes it takes a few years. Regardless, the ups have HEAVILY outweighed the downs by a substantial margin. My portfolio lost 45% of its value during the subprime mortgage crisis between 2008-2012. If you get out when you sense a fall or are within a fall, it's very hard to know when to get back in.

Time in the market far outweighs timing the market.

Using stop losses is not timing the market, it's mitigating your downside. It's simple math, recovering from a 15% decline is much easier than recovering from a 45% decline. The Dot.com debacle was close to 60%.

The hardest part is deciding when to come back into equities. You don't step back in all at once. Fortunately, in 2000 and 2008, bond yields were decent, so you could park your money in CDs and bonds and move it out methodically back into equities.

People near or in retirement may not have enough time to wait out a 45% decline in their portofolio.

[pshep138]

Exotic and high line car sales - currently at a Bentley and Porsche store and also do a lot of used Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by pshep138

Exotic and high line car sales - currently at a Bentley and Porsche store and also do a lot of used Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.

Out of curiosity, do you find that most of your customers are loaded to the point that buying one of these cars is no big deal, or are there a lot of people who are really stretching to get one of these?

Just wondering if it's like the McMansion phenomenon where someone has a house right at the edge of their budget, or maybe a little over, and can't afford to buy furniture for it or whatever.

[pshep138]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

Out of curiosity, do you find that most of your customers are loaded to the point that buying one of these cars is no big deal, or are there a lot of people who are really stretching to get one of these?

Just wondering if it's like the McMansion phenomenon where someone has a house right at the edge of their budget, or maybe a little over, and can't afford to buy furniture for it or whatever.

The large majority of our customers are the former. I'm sure it's different on the coasts.

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Using stop losses is not timing the market, it's mitigating your downside. It's simple math, recovering from a 15% decline is much easier than recovering from a 45% decline. The Dot.com debacle was close to 60%.

The hardest part is deciding when to come back into equities. You don't step back in all at once. Fortunately, in 2000 and 2008, bond yields were decent, so you could park your money in CDs and bonds and move it out methodically back into equities.

People near or in retirement may not have enough time to wait out a 45% decline in their portofolio.

Stop losses certainly mitigate the downside but they can also limit the upside. Often times markets will bounce back quickly after big losses and you could miss out on that if you are stop lossed out. The dot.com bubble and 2008 financial crisis were certainly awful events and selling early could absolutely have saved a lot of potential losses. But then, as you said, the difficult part is figuring out when to get back in (i.e. timing the market). If you do that incorrectly you could miss out on a lot of growth.

I suppose if you are of retirement age and risk averse then stop losses may make sense if you care more about downside risk vs growth potential. Other than that you are probably best to "let it ride" and stay in for the long term (while also investing more during market corrections).

[p0p]

I am a MSP that specializes in Dentistry.
IT for dentistry is in its own world.

[Moe2Moto]

Originally Posted by p0p

I am a MSP that specializes in Dentistry.
IT for dentistry is in its own world.

I have never heard of this before. Please tell me more.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

Stop losses certainly mitigate the downside but they can also limit the upside. Often times markets will bounce back quickly after big losses and you could miss out on that if you are stop lossed out. The dot.com bubble and 2008 financial crisis were certainly awful events and selling early could absolutely have saved a lot of potential losses. But then, as you said, the difficult part is figuring out when to get back in (i.e. timing the market). If you do that incorrectly you could miss out on a lot of growth.

I suppose if you are of retirement age and risk averse then stop losses may make sense if you care more about downside risk vs growth potential. Other than that you are probably best to "let it ride" and stay in for the long term (while also investing more during market corrections).

"Let it ride" has been the mantra of "The Street" since the 1950 that led to people losing half their savings more than once.

Stop losses should not be set too tight. For instance, I think that Investor Business Daily's advice to us 8% is way too tight for many, maybe most, stocks. I look at the volatility history of each stock and then provide cushion beyond that volatility. I also take into account whether the investment is in a non-taxable vs. taxable account.

At 78-years old, stop losses allow me to invest in way riskier equities than any of the investment "profiles" suggested by the top advisors.

When there is a market crash, I don't market time to get back in. I step back in over time. That's not market timing. Fortunately, interest rates were good during the last two biggies.

We're talking about two strategies here and both are "valid". It's up to the investor to decide for themselves.

[p0p]

Originally Posted by Moe2Moto

I have never heard of this before. Please tell me more.

We are a Managed Service Provider that specializes in Dentistry.

Things we do is help offices with all their IT needs.

From:
Designing their network. To Cover Hipaa...
Install maintain updates and patches. Also includes their Practice management and imaging software (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Dexis, Dolphin.... 3d on and on)

Take Care of all there hardware needs
Sensors, Pano IOC printers, scanner.... (Different from vendor providing HW)
Help fix it if something goes wrong.

Emails.... A lot more.

Anything really related to IT for a Dental needs.

[Moe2Moto]

Originally Posted by p0p

We are a Managed Service Provider that specializes in Dentistry.

Things we do is help offices with all their IT needs.

From:
Designing their network. To Cover Hipaa...
Install maintain updates and patches. Also includes their Practice management and imaging software (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Dexis, Dolphin.... 3d on and on)

Take Care of all there hardware needs
Sensors, Pano IOC printers, scanner.... (Different from vendor providing HW)
Help fix it if something goes wrong.

Emails.... A lot more.

Anything really related to IT for a Dental needs.

What schooling would I need to do? How long would it take, and what’s the average salary?

[p0p]

Originally Posted by Moe2Moto

What schooling would I need to do? How long would it take, and what’s the average salary?

My techs range 50k-150k (not counting paid interns)
No amount of schooling will get you ready. I actually prefer non-degree people; One of my highest paid/best has no degree. (including myself; just certs)
Reason why i said i prefer non-degree is it will still take the same amount of time (1 to 1.5 years hands on) to be comfortable/confident.

You also do not need a degree/schooling to start your own company. All about networking.

I started off with just 2 offices with about 20 devices then it grew and grew. Now i have about 2k+ devices we manage.

[erickonphoenix]

I have a mechanics background but I've bounced between mechanic work and graphic design over the last 30 years. I've been doing graphic design for an oil field services company here for about 15 years.

[DocL]

To the OP. Have you noticed that there has only been one dentist, me, who has responded. Everyon else is in a profession that doesn't cost as much to get into, and many are making a good wage with lots of benefits.

This should say something about the dental/medical profession. However there aren't as many dnetist who are probably on this site, so thake that into consideration also.

[peterfromsd]

Director at a casino.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by DocL

To the OP. Have you noticed that there has only been one dentist, me, who has responded. Everyon else is in a profession that doesn't cost as much to get into, and many are making a good wage with lots of benefits.

This should say something about the dental/medical profession. However there aren't as many dnetist who are probably on this site, so thake that into consideration also.

As far as medical goes, it really just depends on which role you choose. MDs, for example, rack up tons of education debt. Nurses, on the other hand, can get out fairly cheaply. There's also PTs, OTs, PAs, NPs, etc., with varying degrees of expense but nothing I'd consider potentially crippling like MDs. On top of that, at least with some of these jobs it's not particularly hard to find employers that'll foot the bill in exchange for a commitment to work for them for a given amount of time. Several RNs I know got their LPN dirt-cheap at community colleges and then had employers that paid for their RN or BSN.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

As far as medical goes, it really just depends on which role you choose. MDs, for example, rack up tons of education debt. Nurses, on the other hand, can get out fairly cheaply. There's also PTs, OTs, PAs, NPs, etc., with varying degrees of expense but nothing I'd consider potentially crippling like MDs. On top of that, at least with some of these jobs it's not particularly hard to find employers that'll foot the bill in exchange for a commitment to work for them for a given amount of time. Several RNs I know got their LPN dirt-cheap at community colleges and then had employers that paid for their RN or BSN.

A friend of mine went to a 2 year school to become a rad tech. The guy was making $90K starting back in 2023 and always has as much OT as he wants. He has next to no debt. He also has lots of opportunities to expand on what he does.

Another good friend was a rad tech for 10 years, then went into medical equipment sales. He stayed with the same company, got out of sales, and now helps doctors use new equipment to place stints in brains. He lives in the Midwest and makes $200K/yr+ not including bonuses.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Using stop losses is not timing the market, it's mitigating your downside. It's simple math, recovering from a 15% decline is much easier than recovering from a 45% decline. The Dot.com debacle was close to 60%.

The hardest part is deciding when to come back into equities. You don't step back in all at once. Fortunately, in 2000 and 2008, bond yields were decent, so you could park your money in CDs and bonds and move it out methodically back into equities.

People near or in retirement may not have enough time to wait out a 45% decline in their portofolio.

Agree to all of that, especially folks within 5 years of retirement or are in it. I'm talking more about younger people that are 15+ years away from retirement. Many lack patience, think they can time the market, focused on some get rich quick idea / scheme, or think they can make up for retirement as they get older.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

A friend of mine went to a 2 year school to become a rad tech. The guy was making $90K starting back in 2023 and always has as much OT as he wants. He has next to no debt. He also has lots of opportunities to expand on what he does.

Another good friend was a rad tech for 10 years, then went into medical equipment sales. He stayed with the same company, got out of sales, and now helps doctors use new equipment to place stints in brains. He lives in the Midwest and makes $200K/yr+ not including bonuses.

Yeah, I think people are somewhat dismissive of those types of jobs, but they've got tons of opportunity and are paid better than one would expect.

[Desking101]

General sales manager at a dealership

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by Desking101

General sales manager at a dealership

Out of curiosity and an interest to hear both sides of the equation, from your perspective how valid are the typical complaints about dealerships? Do you feel like you guys have an unfair reputation? Also, do you feel like mainstream manufacturer-direct sales, a la Tesla, have a snowball's chance in Hell of ever happening?

[Desking101]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

Out of curiosity and an interest to hear both sides of the equation, from your perspective how valid are the typical complaints about dealerships? Do you feel like you guys have an unfair reputation? Also, do you feel like mainstream manufacturer-direct sales, a la Tesla, have a snowball's chance in Hell of ever happening?

A lot of the complaints are valid. There are a lot of dealerships that are run poorly, and a lot of bad salesmen who is going to be the main point of contact their customer will base their opinion on. There are a lot of things I do differently at my store vs most other stores to keep customers and salesmen happy, and still put up big numbers. So the reputation, while a little "unfair" in the sense that people typically complain about things that they really encounter in every business, is still earned.

Mainstream sales following the Tesla model in my opinion will never happen on a wide scale, not in the US. Well, "never" is probably a bit much, but not in our lifetime. Manufacturers sell us vehicles. If they relied on direct to consumer sales, volume would decrease drastically. It will however transition to pretty much fully online, which is already happening. We have customers who are in the dealership for maybe 45 minutes total. Quick test drive, then right into finance, then on the road. Everything is done online except for signing contracts (we can even do that online but our director doesn't like offsite deliveries). Honestly, having the customer here in person for contract signing is important for us as a business because my finance managers can sell. Yes, sell and make profit, like any other business. I'll admit that's our only opportunity to make money on new cars on the sales side...the finance box.

[Moe2Moto]

For those that posted in the thread, thank you for sharing what you do and I’m genuinely shocked at the life advice y’all have given me, from investing and saving, to how I should enjoy my youth as well. So thank you all!