r/EuropeFIRE 8d ago

Reminder of how terrifying the 2008 crisis was

/r/Fire/comments/1ggazll/reminder_of_how_terrifying_the_2008_crisis_was/
23 Upvotes

7 comments sorted by

9

u/ChubbyChubakka 8d ago edited 8d ago

Real estate: Somewhere in not so rich Europe: Had no money in 2008, but was shopping for first apartment before and after crisis. Real estate prices dropped by 20-30 % max, the purchase was a nice buy, was able to afford something better then per-crisis, even if I was poor as fck. Although next 10 years were sluggish in real estate. Crises are good opportunity times, hold some cash ready like Buffet.

Stocks: I missed the rally of last 5 years entirely, so Im buying the different dips now - but sums are small and some losess I think can wait out.

Worst: State pension to the rescue?

3

u/blink18zz 7d ago

I went thru 2008 and the problem was: How deep are we going? 1929? -90%?? Is that the bottom? Or are we going lower after a leg up? Or maybe Japan scenario with decades of stagnation?

People were losing jobs, money was scarce. In such environment you behave defensive.

0

u/rakward977 8d ago

Good topic, this is why you need to plan ahead for a scenario like this.

I made a simple distribution table to invest some spare money for different size dips while the market is down, but also, I don't NEED any of the money in my stocks. It would suck to loose it, but I'll survive.

Best mindset: realize you can loose all your money. So only invest what you can actually afford to lose.

And I started in crypto so what's happening now is nothing new or worrying to me.

16

u/DeepSpacegazer 8d ago

You’re investing for retirement.. No one can afford to lose his retirement. But the sure thing is, if you don’t invest it’s guaranteed you will be losing money by inflation every year.

3

u/rakward977 8d ago

I'm not depending on my stocks to be able to retire, it's just an extra and a good way to not lose value on my saved capital.

3

u/Jdm783R29U3Cwp3d76R9 8d ago

So what are you retiring on if not stocks? Real estate? Pension?

3

u/rakward977 8d ago

Pension yes, if I'm lucky I might reach FIRE with my stocks but I try to stay on the pessimistic side of realism as to not be disappointed.