I pulled 95% of my money out of the stock market in January and put it all into a Pimco bond fund, and I advised my wife to do the same. I told her that after enduring three giant pullbacks since we started investing in 1999, we were not riding out another one.
I felt that the rally in 2009 was just based on the government's stimulus and corporations cutting costs -- it wasn't sustainable. We're up about 8% on our bond fund so far this year, so we're happy with that and will stick with it for now.
I would rather earn nothing than get caught up in another downdraft. We will return to the market when fundamentals align with stock prices but are prepared to sit on the sidelines for another year. I still believe in the system, but I'm not will to risk so much with the way the market is now.
NEXT: Jeremy Lessard, 33
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