The S&P 500 is now down only 14% from its highs set on September 21, 2018. It hit bear market territory on December 24th and stayed their briefly on the next trading day. We’re in the 4th month of this downswing.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke yesterday. He stated, “We will be prepared to adjust policy quickly and flexibly and to use all of our tools to support the economy should that be appropriate to keep the expansion on track.” Apparently, the market liked what they heard – The S&P 500 jumped over 3% yesterday.

Although that was great news, it hasn’t done anything to change my current plan of attack. I continue to hold about 15% cash equivalents in my individual stock portfolios – down from 25% since I bought stocks at the 10% and 20% decline levels. I’m still looking to take profits when the market recovers and get my cash equivalents back to 25%. If the market continues to tank, I’ll start making more purchases when the S&P 500 makes a 30% decline from its highs.

For my mutual fund portfolios, as I stated last week, I’ve bumped up my dollar cost averaging a bit. When the S&P 500 returns back to its all-time highs, then I’ll bump it back down.

For more information on bear markets and corrections, check out my post from December 23rd, 2018.

How are you guys handling this market downswing? Leave your comments below.

Disclosure

I wrote this article myself and it expresses my own opinions. I’m not receiving compensation for it (other than from Wolves Of Investing), and I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.