Stock market

[Pudge]

Wow!! The last few days has taken my investments out at the knees. Ride it out borgs. It'll be back eventually.

[brewnewb]

DOW futures are up 600+ this AM. Maybe a chance to gain back yesterdays losses.

[BlackDuck]

Your right Pudge....ride it out is the right strategy. At least it is for me.

[RickBeer]

I worked in the mutual fund industry during the '87 crash. People withdrew their money, then called and said "can I put it back"?

Remember - you've only lost money IF you withdraw it. If it goes down, then back up, nothing happened.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Need to remember one thing here, 500 up or down is minute percentage at the level the Dow is at these days. Now 500 points when it was at 2500, now that would be a major concern!!!

[Beer-lord]

I guess I'm lucky....you can't loose money if you don't have any.
Seriously, the itty little bit I have I took out the market 4 months ago. Though some is still there, I went with something that won't make me as much if the market goes up but I can't loose what I have. This was way past due and at my age, I need to be more conservative. You young 'uns have to worry about this. Me, I'm gonna eat steak this week then go buy me a gun and some gold.

[Chuck N]

It'll be back eventually.

It always is.

The smart investor dumps more money in when it goes down like that.

I'm not rich enough to be that smart.

[berryman]

I lost a good amount since Friday - today, but like others are saying let it ride. The only problem to me is I was getting ready to move my money to more secure funds as I'm getting close to retire, I still have time though

[RedBEERd]

Having been in the market since the 80's with my 401k, I've learned that it does no good to get out when its down....yea, it's common sense but I can't tell you how many people do JUST THAT.....the thing is, if you're in a 401k you're basically dollar cost averaging, which is the best way (other than being fully diversified) to stay ahead because you're buying low.
Also, if you're not taking risk, you will not make money because the interest rate in banks is actually COSTING you money now on taxes.

Sure, it's not a good feeling but the best thing to do is know that it'll pass

Besides, yesterday's drop was only 6.6%. It's not a correction until it's 20% (which was like 1987) so the media makes it look worse than it was.

[RickBeer]

Actually a correction is 10%, and we hit that. It's not in one day.

People need to rebalance their portfolios as they age, the closer you get to retirement, the more you shift to bonds over stocks. Stocks have a higher yield, but more risk.

A relative of mine has a handful of stocks and mutual funds for which they rely upon for living. One stock had over 30% of the weight. For years I urged them to dramatically cut that stake, especially when it hit over $100. It's now in the $60s, prior to the latest downturn was in the $70s.

Don't be greedy - hit your goals and get YOUR money out. Leave in the earnings if you want.

[Beer Warrior]

I put my money into hops, real estate, or high interest car loans.

[Beer-lord]

I put my money into hops, real estate, or high interest car loans.

See, you my friend, have your priorities in the right order!

[bpgreen]

I remember one time when stocks took a dive, somebody told me he had stopped putting any money into his 401(k). I asked him why and he looked at me like I had frogs jumping out of my ears. He said it was because stocks were down pretty much all across the board, so he was going to wait until they went back up and would get back in at that point. I nodded my head and said I understood what he was saying, then asked what he did when he saw something he wanted to buy go on sale. He asked what I meant and I said that if he wasn't buying stocks while prices were low and was going to wait until they went back up again, by the same logic, he would probably wait until after a sale was over before buying something. He said that of course he bought things on sale, so I replied that stocks were on sale at the moment.

Yesterday I was too busy to even see any headlines, but on the way from the office, I heard a radio interview of somebody at a brokerage house. He said that people called in a panic when the drop was at its worst, telling him they wanted to liquidate. He tried to reassure them and tell them they shouldn't sell in a panic. But, of course, since they were in a panic, they couldn't do anything but panic. So they lost far more than they would have if they had waited even an hour to sell.

In the car this afternoon, I heard somebody make the argument that this is actually a good thing in the long run. The bull run we've been on has been 6 years long and that is almost too long to go without any kind of correction, so having a correction sets things up for a better chance for a relatively long term bull market going forward.

There are many studies that show that most investors' returns underperform the market by a wide margin. The reason is that, despite the mantra of buy low sell high, people tend to panic when prices drop and sell. Then they get giddy when prices are high and buy, so they buy high and sell low, doing the exact opposite of what is best.

I use a Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) approach, investing the same amount on a regular basis. So when prices are low, I buy more shares at the lower cost, when prices are high, I buy fewer, but I still buy some.

If you have a long term approach, stocks have historically always come back. I think I've read that on a rolling 15 year basis, there has never been a time when stocks have lost money and there have only been a few times when there have been 10 year time spans with losses. And when the stock market crash ushered in the Great Depression, even though stocks lost much of their value, there was deflation (which is very rare) and in adjusted dollars, stock prices were relatively stable.

[RedBEERd]

BP,
You my friend are DEAD ON RIGHT. and your example about something on sale is perfect. What I don't understand is that most people in our society will spend time learning how to cook, fly, paint, brew beer etc and yet most of us NEVER even pick up a book and try to learn HOW TO TAKE CARE OF OUR FUTURE........some of us think that uncle sam should do that....I DO NOT!!!!! I don't plan to have to worry about how i'm going to live after I retire. I plan to take action and part of that is learning what I need to make my money grow. Or at least putting some time into it. The panic these last few days have caused are mostly to people who just don't know enough about how the market works and your friend who suggested waiting until the market goes up. Might as well throw gas on his house when its on fire. COMMON SENSE is all one needs.

Rick, a market correct is defined as this: A stock market correction is defined as a time when major market indexes drop between 10% and 20%. Declines greater than 20% are considered to be bear markets. Since 2000, stocks have experienced a correction several times and there have been two bear markets. A correction is a decline or downward movement of a stock, or a bond, or a commodity or market index.
The amount of the decline is at least 10 percent and a true correction exceeds that amount

[ScrewyBrewer]

Well we can put our money in a 0.25% interest bearing savings account, under a mattress or in a 401k sorta thing. My father explained the stock market to me a long time ago as having three halves. What you say there's only two halves in a whole? Think of like this...the market tanks but the banks get their half, the government always gets their half and you....well you know everyone knows there's only two halves in a whole.