In that case, me personally, I would do one of these things:
1) cash out completely and wait on the sidelines until the overall market pulls back to the 50 week moving average
2) go into a recession era portfolio with names like CVS, PG, K, Altria, AFLAC, etc.
Rather then just cash out 40%, I would instead cash it all out and wait on the sidelines.
The reasoning is that 32% is a very decent return. At some point, you have to be satisfied with what you have. All the signs are telling you that the market will pullback. Charts, news, everything. My gut instinct is telling me that such euphoria cant last forever.
32% is good enough and I would just rather cash my chips and walk away from the table in this case. Historically, there are always two pullbacks in any given year. Just wait for one of those pullbacks and then go in.
When the oil snaps up again soon, then the DOW is going to tank down 7-12%.
Look at the chart again, what do you see at the end. This isnt the VTI, this is now the DJIA chart. Look at the second to the end bar, thats a clear sign of trend reversal. Next bar is the hanging man signaling that the DOW is going to revert to the 50 week moving average. 11313
The penalty for cashing out everything and being wrong is that you gain nothing and walk away with 32% in gains.
The other penalty for not cashing out is putting your capital at risk when there are clear technical signs.
You dont trade ignoring the hanging man and so you dont invest that way either. Cash it all out and bring your capital into safe harbor.
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$INDU&p=W&b=5&g=0&id=p76504662264
Quote from ByLoSellHi:
eagle -
No. I sold 40% of my stock portfolio today (I sold all or part of my positions in 8 individual companies).
I did very well since June - I'm up about 32%.
But I just feel stocks will be much cheaper in 4-6 months because of the currency and housing issues that are going to start hammering cyclicals.
I don't believe a recession is avoidable now.