So from my "Main Street" woes regarding food prices, we look now at my Wall Street standing. As you can see on the chart and table above, my retirement IRA is freakin' tanking! It looks like it's mainly the fault of my once darling Alger fund. It's an S&P 500 fund like the Schwab managed one but I admit it always has been rated as a little more risky than the more conservative other one. Yet for years it also made greater gains than the Schwab one too so I kept it. It's been in my portfolio since the One America 403b days and I hate to divest to another fund right now since I don't think it's entirely the fund managers' fault, it's the freakin market right now.
I pulled my funds back in early 2020, when the IRA value dropped suddenly due to the market's reaction to the initial pandemic lockdowns, for a couple weeks or so. I regretted it later, as I jumped back in, as the recovery was underway, but I think I might have made out better had I just waited it out.
This drop as been much more of a gradual slide though, especially since the start of this calendar year. As you can see, my value was almost $62K then. Now, I'd be happy to grapple back up to a mere $50K.
I think I'll sweat it out. There's a lot of factors in play right now. Unlike a clear panic back in March 2020, we're dealing with the malaise of the still ongoing pandemic including new lockdowns especially in China AGAIN, the supply chain hit, the uncertainty about the war over in Ukraine and, if you ask me, Wall Street's lack of confidence in the economic policies of the Let's Go Brandon administration which are not effective against the current inflation, interest rate hike and a myriad of other bungles.
Dare I sing an All In The Family ballad pining for the "good ol' days?" Mister we could use a man like Donald Trump again...
What in the world is happening to me? I'm turning into a bitter ol' white dude.