# My Franklin Fund Investment Took a Big Hit in February



## debodun (Feb 28, 2021)

Lost $5600 in value from January. Anyone have any insight as to the reason?


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## Pepper (Feb 28, 2021)

"If you ain't got nuthin' you got nuthin' to lose."


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## Aunt Marg (Feb 28, 2021)

debodun said:


> Lost $5600 in value from January. Anyone have any insight as to the reason?


I'd say you're not spending enough, Deb.


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## Don M. (Feb 28, 2021)

Browse the financial news on your search engine.....watch the financial news on CNBC....go to the home page on Franklin and read what they have to say.  

https://www.franklintempleton.com/


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## fmdog44 (Feb 28, 2021)

debodun said:


> Lost $5600 in value from January. Anyone have any insight as to the reason?


All of my stocks were also down even Amazon. Two of my three small cap value funds were up. No big deal.


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## debodun (Feb 28, 2021)

I just found this online:

https://www.investmentnews.com/fran...s-investors-pull-cash-from-mutual-funds-64964


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 3, 2021)

If it's a good fund, it should bounce back. I hope you didn't/don't panic sell unless you find they've made internal changes that could have a long term negative effect on the performance of the fund or that the trend in the article you posted is likely to continue. I had a fund lose 45% after COVID hit and that was scary. Now the share price is higher than it was before the pandemic and higher than when I purchased shares. It currently has double digit returns.


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## Pecos (Mar 3, 2021)

Our funds with Vanguard and Fidelity took big hits as well and the reason for it is still unclear. Like Diva said, don't panic sell. I think that we were due for a correction.

It is still gut wrenching when it happens.


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## fmdog44 (Mar 4, 2021)

At my age I only own conservative funds and a large chunk in a dividend fund. My IRA is in three varieties of small cap value. Value investing is said to be the present and future place to be.


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## Don M. (Mar 4, 2021)

It was about this time, last year, that the markets took a nose dive, and there is some indication that Feb/March this year will also be quite volatile.  However, those who are invested fairly conservatively rode out last years drop, and can probably do the same this year.  

It appears that there is a lot of concern about inflation this year....as the Corona Virus becomes less of an issue, and people start returning to their jobs.  The bond markets have improved, while the stock markets have been a bit of a roller coaster.  The Fed may well be a major driving force in this years results.


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## debodun (Mar 4, 2021)

I don't panic. Panicky investors make thing worse by withdrawing their funds - remember what happened in the Great Depression?


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## Aneeda72 (Mar 4, 2021)

debodun said:


> I don't panic. Panicky investors make thing worse by withdrawing their funds - remember what happened in the Great Depression?


I’ve tried to remember but my memory is so faulty now, oh, wait, I wasn’t alive in the Great Depression which must be why I don’t remember it .  However I do remember mom saying how her dad died, and they lost the family farm, and, oh, off, thread sorry.  I have no investments.  We lost 150,000 when Unisys tanked a couple decades ago.  Never bought stocks again.


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## Pecos (Mar 4, 2021)

Today was brutal, .... again.


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 4, 2021)

Aneeda72 said:


> I’ve tried to remember but my memory is so faulty now, oh, wait, I wasn’t alive in the Great Depression which must be why I don’t remember it .  However I do remember mom saying how her dad died, and they lost the family farm, and, oh, off, thread sorry.  I have no investments.  We lost 150,000 when Unisys tanked a couple decades ago.  Never bought stocks again.


I was going to use the laugh emoji when I started reading your reply but that loss of $150,000 took it to a Wow! In fact, also a !

@debodun "I  don't panic. Panicky investors make thing worse by withdrawing their funds - remember what happened in the Great Depression?"  That's good Deb.


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## HoneyNut (Mar 4, 2021)

Pecos said:


> Today was brutal, .... again.


I suppose that means its a good time to buy, unless it will get worse.  
I'm in my last year of working (I hope), so now I'm getting interested in all this.  Once I retire and need to sell some each month to live on, I am not sure what the strategy should be.  I wish I had more cash, I put most of my emergency fund into the market when it crashed in the spring (and through the summer and fall because my emergency fund was in a CD ladder).  
Now I think that once I retire I'll need to have a cushion of cash so I don't have to sell in a down month, but I don't see any way to have cash that would last an entire down year.  I wonder if a reverse mortgage would be good to do in an extensive down market.  I feel stressed by the uncertainty of it all.


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## Aneeda72 (Mar 5, 2021)

HoneyNut said:


> I suppose that means its a good time to buy, unless it will get worse.
> I'm in my last year of working (I hope), so now I'm getting interested in all this.  Once I retire and need to sell some each month to live on, I am not sure what the strategy should be.  I wish I had more cash, I put most of my emergency fund into the market when it crashed in the spring (and through the summer and fall because my emergency fund was in a CD ladder).
> Now I think that once I retire I'll need to have a cushion of cash so I don't have to sell in a down month, but I don't see any way to have cash that would last an entire down year.  I wonder if a reverse mortgage would be good to do in an extensive down market.  I feel stressed by the uncertainty of it all.


My husband worked for Unisys over 20 years and put the money in the stocks even though I asked him not to as he barely made enough for us to get by on.  But someone at the company assured him it was a good ideal “for our retirement”.  The company moved us to Utah.

We later learned the company was known for moving people to Utah and then laying them off.  But before he could be laid off, the company tanked.  So all that money we did without for over 20 years was gone, plus his job.  He worked in their warehouse.

When he applied for a new job, in a warehouse, they x-rayed his back, and said he could never work in a warehouse again.    He got a job as a part time school aide.  So yeah, we were out of the stock market, out of a decent job, have no retirement nest egg, and starting over in life with two kids in a new place.

The great American dream.  So, he stills works.  It’s never a good time to buy stocks, IMO.


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## Aunt Bea (Mar 5, 2021)

HoneyNut said:


> I suppose that means its a good time to buy, unless it will get worse.
> I'm in my last year of working (I hope), so now I'm getting interested in all this.  Once I retire and need to sell some each month to live on, I am not sure what the strategy should be.  I wish I had more cash, I put most of my emergency fund into the market when it crashed in the spring (and through the summer and fall because my emergency fund was in a CD ladder).
> Now I think that once I retire I'll need to have a cushion of cash so I don't have to sell in a down month, but I don't see any way to have cash that would last an entire down year.  I wonder if a reverse mortgage would be good to do in an extensive down market.  I feel stressed by the uncertainty of it all.


I don't know anything about your situation but I've always found that it is easier to reduce my expenses than it is to increase my income. 

Good luck!


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## Pecos (Mar 5, 2021)

Aneeda72 said:


> My husband worked for Unisys over 20 years and put the money in the stocks even though I asked him not to as he barely made enough for us to get by on.  But someone at the company assured him it was a good ideal “for our retirement”.  The company moved us to Utah.
> 
> We later learned the company was known for moving people to Utah and then laying them off.  But before he could be laid off, the company tanked.  So all that money we did without for over 20 years was gone, plus his job.  He worked in their warehouse.
> 
> ...


What happened to you is simply brutal.

On a much smaller scale, we had a similar experience with Lucent (Bell Labs). Long before we were married, my wife worked at AT&T and bought company stock on a regular basis even with her small salary. After we married, AT&T was split up and she received the greater bulk of her shares in Southwestern Bell, with one share in all the other baby bells. She also received about $6500 in shares for Bell Labs (Later Lucent). She sold all of the single shares and held on to the Southwestern Bell and Lucent.

Those rascal executives at Lucent were praising their company's prospects but secretly selling their own shares like crazy. Nobody outside the company and most of the lower level employees did not know the truth. When it finally tanked, and it went down quickly, her $6500 in shares was worth about $613 as I recall. Nobody went to jail, but they should have. We still have the Southwestern Bell (Now AT&T again) and it does spit out good dividends, but we don't really trust it and may sell it at some point.

Overall we have not had great luck with individual stocks. AT&T is the only individual stock that we still own. The rest is in big balanced funds. We don't want to be rich, we just don't want to be poor so we don't gamble.


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## Aneeda72 (Mar 5, 2021)

Pecos said:


> What happened to you is simply brutal.
> 
> On a much smaller scale, we had a similar experience with Lucent (Bell Labs). Long before we were married, my wife worked at AT&T and bought company stock on a regular basis even with her small salary. After we married, AT&T was split up and she received the greater bulk of her shares in Southwestern Bell, with one share in all the other baby bells. She also received about $6500 in shares for Bell Labs (Later Lucent). She sold all of the single shares and held on to the Southwestern Bell and Lucent.
> 
> ...


We got 1500.00


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## Lethe200 (Mar 5, 2021)

I never let myself pay attention to short term results. When working we invested for long-term results in low cost mutual funds/bonds in varying percentages, mostly a 75/25 mix. Upon early retirement we shifted to a 60/40 ratio and I gave our portfolio to an independent CFP firm to handle.

I had previously vetted the firm 15 yrs ago for handling my MIL's assets. They've done an excellent job for her and us. The assets have increased net of fees and distributions, and tax-wise they've done a 5-star job. Our CPA thinks highly of them and our estate attorney has had no problems working with them. 

We are currently on a 50/50 asset mix and will probably stay that way for the foreseeable future. They do a great quarterly 'state of the market' report along with the portfolio's profit or loss. I really enjoy reading their market report, which discusses not only market trends but economic news and international markets data.


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 5, 2021)

Aneeda72 said:


> My husband worked for Unisys over 20 years and put the money in the stocks even though I asked him not to as he barely made enough for us to get by on.  But someone at the company assured him it was a good ideal “for our retirement”.  The company moved us to Utah.
> 
> We later learned the company was known for moving people to Utah and then laying them off.  But before he could be laid off, the company tanked.  So all that money we did without for over 20 years was gone, plus his job.  He worked in their warehouse.
> 
> ...


Though your views on the market are understandable under the circumstances, the problem wasn't with the stock market, it was with your husband putting all his eggs in one basket, especially since it was in his company's private stock. This is why financial advisors cry diversify. Also, it's never advisable for people who don't have a lot of money to spare to invest in stocks. Mutual funds (and now ETFs) are a better choice. I'm so sorry that happened to your family...a bitter pill to swallow for sure!

@Pecos I remember that Lucent fiasco! You're right, they deserved jail time.


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 5, 2021)

HoneyNut said:


> I suppose that means its a good time to buy, unless it will get worse.
> I'm in my last year of working (I hope), so now I'm getting interested in all this.  Once I retire and need to sell some each month to live on, I am not sure what the strategy should be.  I wish I had more cash, I put most of my emergency fund into the market when it crashed in the spring (and through the summer and fall because my emergency fund was in a CD ladder).
> Now I think that once I retire I'll need to have a cushion of cash so I don't have to sell in a down month, but I don't see any way to have cash that would last an entire down year.  I wonder if a reverse mortgage would be good to do in an extensive down market.  I feel stressed by the uncertainty of it all.


I learned the hard way not to put my emergency fund into the market. My investments are doing well but I sold shares of a fund (at a profit) to buy our timeshare which we got for 37% of the asking price plus did a no interest deal. I wish I had kept the shares I sold because now the share price is more than three times what it was when I sold. I still have shares of that fund but wish I had held on to all. Down markets are good times to buy more shares but it can be scary not knowing if what you purchase will bounce back. When the market plunged last year, I added shares to two funds and it payed off. One is up by $12 a share, the other by $3/share.


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## Aneeda72 (Mar 6, 2021)

OneEyedDiva said:


> Though your views on the market are understandable under the circumstances, the problem wasn't with the stock market, it was with your husband putting all his eggs in one basket, especially since it was in his company's private stock. This is why financial advisors cry diversify. Also, it's never advisable for people who don't have a lot of money to spare to invest in stocks. Mutual funds (and now ETFs) are a better choice. I'm so sorry that happened to your family...a bitter pill to swallow for sure!
> 
> @Pecos I remember that Lucent fiasco! You're right, they deserved jail time.


Oh, I agree.  But my husband has never listened to me, and no one can tell him anything.  It put us so far behind we were never able to catch up, which is why we are where we are now, and one of the reasons why he still has to work.  But, it is what it is.


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## Don M. (Mar 6, 2021)

Investing in the markets can be stressful, if a person worries about every turndown.  Probably the best way to manage investments, for most, is to be diversified in fairly conservative mutual funds, and let the fund managers do their jobs.  Putting all the money in an individual stock either makes a person rich, or puts them on the doorstep of bankruptcy.  There are any number of good funds with many years of "track record" to chose from, and they can supply a nice income with minimal risk.


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## debodun (Mar 6, 2021)

I only have one investment account with FT. I keep a little cash on hand for shopping. The rest is in 2 bank accounts.


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## mathjak107 (Mar 9, 2021)

If it is a bond fund , fixed income is getting hammered by rising rates


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## mathjak107 (Mar 9, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> I don't know anything about your situation but I've always found that it is easier to reduce my expenses than it is to increase my income.
> 
> Good luck!


Until there is nothing left to reduce and  expenses keep rising ...one is not a replacement for the other ....that is why Wall Street reports both earnings and revenue ....profits can be increased by cutting costs ....but there is a bottom.....then you need more income


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## rkunsaw (Mar 30, 2021)

I have our money in six different stocks and three mutual funds. Three of the stocks are doing well and one of the mutual funds is doing well. The others havent caught up since the covid thing last year but are still paying dividends.

I've always been told mutual funds are better but I've had better luck with individual stocks.

At one point last year I was down  $40,000 but am ahead by nearly that much now.


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## mathjak107 (Mar 30, 2021)

rkunsaw said:


> I have our money in six different stocks and three mutual funds. Three of the stocks are doing well and one of the mutual funds is doing well. The others havent caught up since the covid thing last year but are still paying dividends.
> 
> I've always been told mutual funds are better but I've had better luck with individual stocks.
> 
> At one point last year I was down  $40,000 but am ahead by nearly that much now.


Dividend or not is irrelevant, if the total return is lagging it is lagging....it is no different then pulling money out of a portfolio of non div payers in a down year and going at least I am getting income


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## SetWave (Mar 30, 2021)

My financial advisor loves telling me, "You'll never run out of money," leaving me to think, "Yeah holding onto five bucks while I sleep in the bushes.


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## debodun (Mar 30, 2021)

You could be holding onto worse.


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## garyt1957 (Apr 4, 2021)

Pecos said:


> What happened to you is simply brutal.
> 
> On a much smaller scale, we had a similar experience with Lucent (Bell Labs). Long before we were married, my wife worked at AT&T and bought company stock on a regular basis even with her small salary. After we married, AT&T was split up and she received the greater bulk of her shares in Southwestern Bell, with one share in all the other baby bells. She also received about $6500 in shares for Bell Labs (Later Lucent). She sold all of the single shares and held on to the Southwestern Bell and Lucent.
> 
> ...


If you're going to own individual stocks you have to pay attention to them. Insider selling is public knowledge. There will always be an Enron or something similar in there but you'll usually see signs. That's why mutual funds are better for the vast majority of people.


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## BlissfullyUnawareCanadian (Apr 4, 2021)

We buy mostly dividend paying stock because where I live it’s income tax advantageous, but we did buy a stock that goes up and down so much that if we watched it daily we would have heart attacks! $65,000 drop in one week. It will go back up again but still, not for the feint of heart.


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## debodun (Apr 4, 2021)

It recovered a little this month.


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## Uptosnuff (Apr 8, 2021)

@ Honeynut "_I wonder if a reverse mortgage would be good to do in an extensive down market. I feel stressed by the uncertainty of it all."_

In a word, no.  I consider Reverse Mortgages to be evil things.


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## OneEyedDiva (Apr 8, 2021)

HoneyNut said:


> I suppose that means its a good time to buy, unless it will get worse.
> I'm in my last year of working (I hope), so now I'm getting interested in all this.  Once I retire and need to sell some each month to live on, I am not sure what the strategy should be.  I wish I had more cash, I put most of my emergency fund into the market when it crashed in the spring (and through the summer and fall because my emergency fund was in a CD ladder).
> Now I think that once I retire I'll need to have a cushion of cash so I don't have to sell in a down month, but I don't see any way to have cash that would last an entire down year.  I wonder if a reverse mortgage would be good to do in an extensive down market.  I feel stressed by the uncertainty of it all.


Reverse mortgages can be very tricky. Of course the ads tout them to be so wonderful.  Here  is an article from Forbes that lists 5 pros and 5 cons of reverse mortgages.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/reverse-mortgage-pros-cons/


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## MrPants (Apr 8, 2021)

I sold all my mutual funds decades ago. Reasons were as follows:
1. Too many really weak performers vs decent performers in each fund.
2. Impossible to calculate the true cost to you for each fund. (The only ones who make money are the fund managers and commissioned sales people - Bankers, Insurance Companies & other brokers selling these funds).
3. Too hard to sell when you need to without getting clipped big time on early cancellation fees.

Individual stocks are the way to go as far as I'm concerned. _It does help to have a competent advisor_ to help guide you but the principals are pretty straight forward. Just as with Real Estate where location, location, location is the mantra; in terms of individual stock holdings it's' diversification, diversification, diversification!

Now, diversification has a number of aspects. Market sector diversification, global market diversification as well as growth vs dividend diversification. Hold blue chip stocks. Don't mess with speculative offerings. Yes; there is always the chance of an 'Enron', as someone mentioned but, if you are properly diversified you are not going to lose your shirt! The only people who get burned big time from the 'Enrons' of this world are greedy people who sunk everything into one offering. Like many other things in life, investing is all about discipline!

Yes, investing in individual equities can be nerve racking at times when you occasionally take a 20-30% hit but those hits are _always_ temporary - Always! If you are invested in good, blue-chip stocks, you'll never be down for long. You do have to adjust your risk factors though as you age. Once you start drawing from your investment fund, make sure you have 6 months to a year worth of required cash in your portfolio. That way, in a severe downturn, you can draw cash rather than having to sell equities and take losses on those stocks when they are down.


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## Don M. (Apr 8, 2021)

Virtually Every investment in the markets includes some degree of risk....especially in the short term.  The markets are a constant "roller coaster" from day to day, but continue to move upward over time.  There really isn't any better alternative for growing one's wealth, over time.  Money sitting in the bank...drawing a fraction of a % in interest...is losing value every year due to normal inflation.


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