Your asset allocation should be independent of market fluctuations and should only be dependent on your risk tolerance. Of course, re-balancing is a good idea in an up market or a down one.

Look out! – Dow 2200 coming to a stock market near you.

What’s real is the amount of money you have to retire. When you sell, you either have $500,000 or $1,000,000. That’s concrete.

What’s makes you think your money will be any good if the US defaults on it’s debt?

Second, the value of stock is set by the market. It sells for what people will buy and you can only buy at a price people are willing to sell. Whether those prices are inflated or justified lies in the eyes of the beholder. *cough* Housing Prices *cough*

Fraudulent and deceptive? In a few cases, but not on the whole. The stock market crash is man-made, the credit crunch is man-made. It is the fear and paranoia of the sheeple that caused this loss of untold fortunes, and will help me make mine (kudos to #22 Dave, I pray to be in your situation).

Lastly, the investing is a gamble. It always was, and will continue to be a gamble. There is no guarantee, not even with Treasury bonds. Most people got comfortable and conditioned to the unrealistic gains year after year (insert housing crisis once again), and assumed it would go on forever, not knowing why or how the system works.

@#13 deRuiter

Drilling for a non-renewable resource is to make the US energy independent? And what happens when you run out of oil to drill for? Stuck with the same problem we have now.

Only the private sector can add productive jobs? Can you tell me what sector caused the dot com crash? The housing collapse? The current financial crisis? How about you open up a history book a read up on what FDR did, or how about the highway/freeway system?

US health care best in the world? That’s up for debate, but that’s not what I’m going to argue? Do you think we should stop improving our system, just because it’s the best? Do you think that our system is so perfect, that there are no faults to it? Do you think that the millions, if not billions, insurance companies pocket every year could be put to better use? Do we have a high tech and knowledgeable medical system? Yes. Does it benefit you? Only if you have money. For example, $100k is a dent in the wallet for a millionaire, but that same $100k is something that a a family on minimum wage would be paying for generations to come.

My money is in short term treasuries. There is no cash option in my 401k, so that was the safest option available. I did take out 50% of the balance as a cash loan though to reduce my exposure further.

I don’t believe that the government will default on its debt, but if they don’t do so then they must cut spending across the board, which will further damage the economy.

The baseline for real economic growth must be measured in terms of efficiency gains in the management of renewable systems. Although I don’t have numbers, I would suspect that when deficit funded growth is reconciled and non renewable resource exploitation is ignored, the baseline for growth is actually quite low, probably no more than 1%-3% annually and possibly less. All this really means is that in the near future resource exploitation and deficit spending will continue to drive growth higher than that baseline. As resources become scarce the global economy will reconcile to that average baseline growth rate, resulting in more severe economic upsets.

I started investing again in March, but it was due to circumstances more than luck/knowledge of he markets. I moved in December and was finally stable enough in March to feel comfortable returning to my regular investing schedule (but a part of me knew that prices were so low I might never see such bargains again…ever). I’ve watched the market closely since then and we’ve had big gains. As far as the stock market is concerned the recession is over – but from here on out it will be a volatile ride. There will be highs and lows. The best advice is to stick with your asset allocation and ride the waves up and down – you are, after all, in this for the long term. In 30 years you won’t even remember this blip in the markets and you’ll be richer for it.

Stock market money is all pretend — your stock may have gone up 40%, but it is only worth 40% more if you cash it in right there and then.

This made him feel confident that he could choose a good stock. He then invested a little bit more of our savings into two companies that he wanted to ‘day trade’, he had been researching a few others and was sure he could make big bucks within a few days.

Well, he learned the hard way that sometimes, even with all the research and momentum that appears to be behind the company, it doesn’t go as planned. Now we are holding onto a couple of companies’ stocks that are in the red.

The lesson learned is that the stock market is unpredictable and that sometimes it’s best to stick with what you know and proceed with long term goals. That’s now his new outlook on the stock market.

-Little House

That means that without any effort on my part, I am buying low and selling high each and every month. This takes the “psychology” and fear out of the equation, and makes my buying decisions emotion-less.

-WB

John DeFlumeri Jr

Yes, the market got way oversold back in March, but that wasn’t clear until later (and in retrospect), when it became clear that the downturn in the economy was not as serious and as grave as expected.

That being said, however, whenever the market makes a 50+% move off the bottom, it’s time to trim, especially if you’re fully invested in stocks. And it’s not clear that the coast is clear for the economy next year either.

Dan
Casual Kitchen