WOW! What the Dow did today!

[Adam Helmer]

I have some new money to (perhaps) invest in the stock market. I got out in October 2008 when the Dow was 14,000+ and dropped thereafter to 5,800. It went up to 11,000 and at noon today I chatted with my broker. He gave me his "dog and pony show" and I said, "I will get back to you."

I came home and turned on the financial channel at 2:30 p.m. I saw the Dow in FREE FALL to -998.50! It went BELOW 10,000. Well, I am not real sure the stock market is where I want to put my money.

I was amused when the Market "Damage Control" Folks came on and said, "It was a market transaction error." I am glad I am retired and my pension checks are NOT predicated on the stock market. I am glad the TARP stuff and renewed Financial Oversight by the Gummint is DOING SO WELL! We saw that IN ACTION today!

Adam

[popplecop]

Adam, took a 1.6% cut in my state pension, CDs not doing much, had some extra in Money Market that was stagnant, so what does one do. Well a week ago today I ventured into the world of purchasing $10,000 worth of stock in SYSCO and Kimberly Clark, and then came yesterday. The crash is probably my fault, when my wife was alive she always said let the state pension board do the investing, you don't know anything about it. Oh well live in learn, you'd think after one goes past 70 they would get a little more cautious, but not me.

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by popplecop

Adam, took a 1.6% cut in my state pension, CDs not doing much, had some extra in Money Market that was stagnant, so what does one do. Well a week ago today I ventured into the world of purchasing $10,000 worth of stock in SYSCO and Kimberly Clark, and then came yesterday. The crash is probably my fault, when my wife was alive she always said let the state pension board do the investing, you don't know anything about it. Oh well live in learn, you'd think after one goes past 70 they would get a little more cautious, but not me.

This is what I have been reading, and also what I believe in. What exactly do you and I know about any company we decide to invest in, that a mutual fund manager will not know? I'm willing to bet mutual fund managers managing billions of dollars have the means to learn more about companies than you and I do. Heck, I'm willing to bet that they can meet with the Board of Directors and officers of a company that they are thinking about investing in. Where are you and I going to get with the $10,000 we want to invest? Plus, these investment firms use tons of software to evaluate companies and their growth potential. What do you and I use? Our gut.

I understand why you did it, and I am toying with taking a chance too because if we hit it right buying a single family home will be just that much easier. Plus, if I hit it wrong, how bad can it really be? Not as bad as hitting it wrong on the roulette table in Vegas. However, the way I view online investing is the same way I view legalized gambling. It is just a bunch of gambling for people like you and I.

At your age, you need to keep your money in safe investments. If you haven't made enough to comfortably retire, you will most likely makes things worse by making high risk investments right now because you are already retired. Me, if I completely screw up an investment at age 38, I have another 30 years to refrain from the purchasing of Benellis, Berettas, Sakos, Rugers, $8,000 bicycles, etc. to try and save enough to make up for the bad investment.

With that said, the market does scare the heck out of me but I try not to worry too much about the thousands and thousands of dollars that we have in it.

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by Adam Helmer

I have some new money to (perhaps) invest in the stock market. I got out in October 2008 when the Dow was 14,000+ and dropped thereafter to 5,800. It went up to 11,000 and at noon today I chatted with my broker. He gave me his "dog and pony show" and I said, "I will get back to you."

I came home and turned on the financial channel at 2:30 p.m. I saw the Dow in FREE FALL to -998.50! It went BELOW 10,000. Well, I am not real sure the stock market is where I want to put my money.

I was amused when the Market "Damage Control" Folks came on and said, "It was a market transaction error." I am glad I am retired and my pension checks are NOT predicated on the stock market. I am glad the TARP stuff and renewed Financial Oversight by the Gummint is DOING SO WELL! We saw that IN ACTION today!

Adam

You were either very lucky, very smart, or a combination of the two if you got out in October 2008. Me, I just cranked up the investment amount in spring 2009 and now we are $40,000 ahead of where we were in spring 2009. Granted, we put $40,000 more in the retirement accounts, so essentially we are at a break even from the big plunge to 6,700. We are investing long term, so we are going to continue to plug the money into the retirement accounts and hope for the best.

[jplonghunter]

Guys

Took a bath last market adjustment. Nuff said.

jplonghunter

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by jplonghunter

Guys

Took a bath last market adjustment. Nuff said.

jplonghunter

I don't know anybody that was in the market during the last adjustment that did not take a bath. It was pretty bad. Luckily, it came back pretty good. The last adjustment was just a good reason to crank up the retirement contributions to maximum. Wish I had bought Ford at $2 a share and Vonage at $0.33 a share when I had wanted to, but I erred on the side of caution and lost about $20,000 in potential gains in hindsight. Such is life.

[buckhunter]

I managed to bail a couple of years ago.` Being a old fart what little I mean little tied up in stocks can just stay there. Mostly everything else in stuff that ain't earning much but isn't loosing anything either. My main investments is realestate. Market valve dropped big time as we all know but I really don't care. I paid very little so appreciation of 300% over a lot of years ain't bad and I'm not ready to sell them yet. In the mean time the rent checks come in handy.

[popplecop]

Well, it was money just sitting there idle and I will just leave it there and see what happens.