Stock Market/ Who Dumped? Who is Staying the Course?

I believe that's true for most of us older folks. We had more personal experience with the various types of market action as opposed to the younger people who never knew a serious prolonged downturn.

We never took out much, but had the dividends, which was a lovely "pension". On two occasions a company was bought out, and we collected nice pieces of change!

A friend at the coffee shop was really discouraged about the performance of his retirement funds, so he asked what he should do. I recommended that he transfer some of his equities into government bonds, and get his financial adviser for her advise. He took the action last Monday when the market was up, and his mix is now 20% equities and 80% bonds. The timing couldn't have been better for him.

Timing is so important. My brother had shares of Citicorp. He got nervous, took a huge hit, and sold out at $3- The next day, the stock was double that!

Dealing with single stock issues is much more difficult in this environment; especially since the government is involving itself in shoring banks, finance companies and car companies that would otherwise have gone bankrupt.

Our government is now committed to over seven trillion in guarantees and cash into our economy.

Helloooo inflation.

Two years ago, at Thanksgiving dinner, my big shot BIL was bragging about his great stock market picks. He was all bluster about "getting the government out of the retirement business" and basically putting it back into the hands of individuals and the glorious free market. Yesterday his wife told me their portfolio is down by half and they are thinking of selling their Florida snowbird home to cut back on expenses. I wonder what he will be blustering about this year.

GW, I remember when my best friend used to brag about how much he was worth on paper during the tech boom, but said nothing after the bust. I believe it's just human nature to brag when people have done well in the market, and fall silent when they've lost a bundle.

The best strategy are those that have been preached and practiced for the long term; diversify, don't try to time the market, buy low and sell high, and keep a ratio between bonds and equities depending on one's age. Simple, but many don't heed.

I don't mind someone tooting their investment kazoo, but my BIL was a big advocate of getting rid of Social Security because he felt the average Joe could do better on their own. He held himself up as a prime example, although he has an advanced degree in business and grew up in a fairly privileged household . I think his philosophy has been given an overhaul and he will gladly cash his SS checks in a few years .

GW, Those who advocated for getting rid of social security doesn't understand our country and the crisis it would create if they got their wishes. Even with social security, the majority of seniors are on life-support - just to have shelter and pay for food. Many turn to dog food and don't take their prescribed drugs, because they don't have the money to survive in a economic environment that continues to stretch their dollars. Those so-called compassionate conservatives have no compassion; they only look at their own situation and think everybody will be "better off." Social security is a life-saver for many.

Another major issue is that most workers preparing for retirement have very little or no savings. Without social security, they'll all be homeless and/or starving.

it seems to me that "dog food" is getting rather expensive these days !
when i had a dog as a kid , the dog was fed table scraps .
hbg

Haven't kept track of the cost of dog food since we owned a dog in the early seventies. Just remember reading articles about seniors buying dog food to eat during the interim.

to cheer up everyone and help dispell any and all gloom (from the times of london) :



may have to fire up the "afterburner" !

Ten billion every month being "burned." For what?

Your link to Reuters is not working. However, as it concerns the violence in Mumbai and the Indian economy, it will be a short-lived event with very little to no effect.

Better to be eating dog food as opposed to eating dog...

Some in southern China have been eating dog for centuries.

I realize you made this post back in 2008. I have not sold out and have continued to max out retirement plan contributions and also purchased more investments.

Have you changed your strategy since your original post?

heh.

I had this one stock that had just been sitting there languishing for about 5-6 months.
The stop I had set was fairly close to the price it was at, so I wasn't worried about losing more than maybe a hundred or so bucks.

I looked at it today, and it was having a day where the price was getting pumped up, starting at around 9:30....I kept the window open so I could see the price at the bottom of my screen, and decided to sell when it was up like 25%. I just caught it on the downside, and managed to get the sale in at 20%.

Walked away with about $800 gain in my roth ira.

nice.

so far this year I'm up 21% from sales.

Those who didn't sell can now sit back and relax. Things are starting to improve.

chai, Congrats on your gains for this year. I just let my funds ride the roller coaster, but for YTD, not doing badly at all - considering that the economy is in the dumps with our unemployment rate not making any headway. Since I'm bond heavy in my funds, I don't worry too much: intermediate bonds are up over 9%.

Good show!