While I haven't sold significant stakes of my equity investments, I have downsized the overall amount of money that I would consider putting in stocks. A few years ago I would have considered investing as much as 40% of my liquid net worth, while now I will only invest 20%.
I altered my strategy in 2008, when the market turned rocky and corporate financial statements became unclear. For years, banks had been booking large profits, but things started to take a turn. Now I'm more conservative, and I buy bond market funds, equities or REITs with yields higher than 3 times that of a high-interest saving account and I sock the rest of the money away in the highest yielding savings accounts I can find.
In an environment of extremely low inflation and while gainfully employed, why throw the money to the wind? The historical expected return on stocks isn't worth it, given the current volatility. I think if things were to stabilize a bit and I could gain some clarity, I would put more money back in the market.
NEXT: Kora Kilpatrick, 22
Where to invest now
