So I’m leaving for China on nest Saturday morning and will probably have limited access to my portfolios even if I wanted to (I’d rather not) for 15 days. Does anyone have suggestions as to what I should / could possibly due to both protect my positions while I’m gone and cannot babysit them as normal? I don’t really know if its even necessary, since I am only about 10% invested (ex-401k) but I am a bit worried about maybe missing a huge bottom. Would writing a broad market calls be a good idea, maybe? At a level where I’d be glad to go long anyway?
limit orders
It depends on your time horizon. If you are young and are a long term investor, 15 days really won’t have much of an impact.
Just bring your broker’s number - if something happens call in your changes.
This is the exact reason why value investing is more fun. You don’t worry
i agree with the limit orders, set it and forget it.
“Set it and forget it” Is that an infomercial? Sounds like one of the bearded guy’s specials. “Just set it and forget it”
“Limit orders at the amaaazing low price of only $14.99 per trade, Call in the next 30 seconds and we will throw in a two useful products for free: a can of soup and a shotgun shell”
Enjoy your vacation, that’s what you do. I think everyone should take a two-week vacation from computers once a year.
frisian Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Enjoy your vacation, that’s what you do. I think > everyone should take a two-week vacation from > computers once a year. i agree as long as i can bring my laptop with me
Zoozu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > frisian Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Enjoy your vacation, that’s what you do. I > think > > everyone should take a two-week vacation from > > computers once a year. > > > i agree as long as i can bring my laptop with me LOL!! I agree. I’m going to shanghai and planning on staying at a hostel so packing light. No laptop… and I fear that logging in to my acct on any public Chinese computer will lead my account to quickly fall to ZERO when someone breaks into it!
I volunteer to do your online stuff for you while you are gone. Send me your info. Yer welcome!
I was in China during the end of september to mid october, during possibly some of the most volatile times in the markets. It is frustrating to wake up each morning, and find out how much markets have moved when you were catching up on Zzzzs. Though I had access to my online bank accounts, portfolio, brokers, and more. I was surprised that i had full access to the economist and the wallstreet journal when i was there. If you really must be up to date, there are plenty of sources for internet access, mostly through webcafes. Depending on where you’re staying, hotels should easily have them as well. But if you’re on vacation, have fun, soak up the culture, try the weirder foods. And then just check on market updates when you get home at night if you have any energy left =P.
Send me numbers and give me trading authority on the account. 2/20.
vacation without laptop. Gee, what are you gonna do in China?!
JoeyDVivre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Send me numbers and give me trading authority on > the account. 2/20. I might just do that 
You’d probable make me a lot of money, but I thought you were staying all cash?? hmmm ++ I’d be much to embarrassed for you to see what I’ve done to date. My AF reputation would be ruined!!
I am sure you can find internet access unless you need to go to some remote places.
There is a cool island called Putuoshan off the coast of Shanghai if you are looking to get away from the city. I went there in the summer though, not sure if it would be as fun in the cold. You can catch a ferry over there and get one of the best rooms with a TV, bed, A/C in the room for really cheap ($40 US roundtrip) if I can remember correctly. Was an adventure at the time - not a lot of tourists over there.
akanska Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > JoeyDVivre Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Send me numbers and give me trading authority > on > > the account. 2/20. > > > I might just do that You’d probable make me a > lot of money, but I thought you were staying all > cash?? hmmm > > ++ I’d be much to embarrassed for you to see what > I’ve done to date. My AF reputation would be > ruined!! If you just want downside protection, you can do protective stops, limit orders, or look at options (protective puts, or sell now and buy calls). The options will of course cost you a premium and volatility is high. Recent market events make most people look pretty embarrassed. what I’ve been learning is that behavioral biases are REAL (I knew this, but have new appreciation for just how strong they are), and that a lot of losses actually come from departing from your investment discipline (you can also lose from your investment model no longer working, as with AQR, I guess, but for individuals, getting fuzzy about your strategy tends to be a guaranteed loss).