Slow Boat to Hallelujah Land

I was doing so well.

Mostly in CASH and GOOG since the fall of last year, I converted the GOOG to cash this month. In my Thrift Fund, I stayed in C for a little hedge against good times.

And I did a little trading, mostly in SPY. I bought the dips and sold the rips, several times, and made money each time. Not a lot, but not bad when everything was down from day one of this year.

Then, in the past week or two, things firmed up. I started paying more attention to guys on TSC who were saying that happy days were possibly in the offing. Even Kass was buying at one point.

I let my guard down. Last week, I bought a rip with the intention of letting it ride until the good times arrived. Even though the charts were still screaming that it wasn't going to happen, I doubled up.

Friday wiped out half of my accomplishment in 2008, so far. This market clearly has further work to do in the down department. My usual suspection, at a time like this, is that it is too late to get out. But the thought of riding it out fills me with dread.

Monday morning, I aim to go completely to cash. I will collect my 2% a year and throw in as much free cash flow as I can squeeze out of my day job.

I can't imagine why anyone would be interested in hearing about this, except, possibly, my heirs. I wouldn't be going into it at all, if it weren't Sunday.