...came and savaged my investment accounts again yesterday.
I need a Penguin Army.
I need a Penguin Army.
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© Original Content 2003-2011 John Donovan
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Bear Cav sez, "yummy crunchies, pink and gooey on the inside."
Whatever -- good luck getting rounds downrange with neither trigger fingers nor opposable thumbs. I mean, *everybody* knows penguins make lousy combat soldiers, but they're fairly useful as tankers...
I'm taking a beating in the mutuals in my other investment accounts, but I'm holding on to the shares and waiting out the rough seas, because, thankfully, I can. I'm diversified both in risk and instruments.
Diversification people!
Diversification!!
And dollar-cost averaging.
Those two things, plus 5+ years before needing to access your retirement account, will help you weather the storm and set you up quite nicely for the up-swing.
And think of it this way:
A month ago I was paying over $4.00 a gallon for gas; I filled up today at $1.89. That's over a 50% drop in ONE MONTH. The US stock markets have fallen 40+ % over the past TEN MONTHS. If it took gas 10 months to drop in half, we would have been happy, but wouldn't have noticed quite as much as we have because of the quick drop. Why is it when gas drops by 50%, we're happy, because it's a bargain, but when stocks- good quality stocks- drop by 40%, it's a national disaster and the world's coming to an end?
Why? Because it's an emotional response.
We jump at the opportunity to spend our money on things on sale (has anyone else ever noticed that Kohl's ALWAYS has a sale? anyway.. I digress), EXCEPT when stocks are on sale. We see stock prices fall, and all we see is the bottom line on our quarterly statements. We see gas prices fall, and suddenly we see the ability to go visit distant relative for Thanksgiving this year.
Keep things in perspective, and plan for your future. Let today do whatever today is going to do- you can't control that. Stay true to your risk tolerence and long-term plan, and you'll be fine.
Trust me... we'll come out of this. The stock market has averaged around 8% per year, including the Great Depression. This is not another depression; we will be fine if you give it enough time.
Well, to my mind, the market is simply responding to the implied threat of a socialist government to nationalize much of the economy on the way to destroying all of the economy.
Markets respond predictably to threats to their existence, much like people. They liquidate assets to gain capital, then stash it out of harm's way.
Respects,
I WONDER IF OBAMA EVER FILLED OUT FORM, DD 398
Retirement funds have two huge problems. At least over here. One is that fund managers underperform the market and charge fees to boot. The other is you can't control the selling or buying process sufficiently because the money is locked.
AfSis they don't think the world coming to and end, hell they are reacting more that way with the Obama factor than the market... but what they can see is their retirements and other investements resulting in leaner times during their twilight years and conservatives think well this way. And most of their fears are quite reasonable. The market will recover oh yes but the previous expections of how much money they have to live on in those later years will become much smaller.
while that point is still debatable for the Junior Senator from Illinois, once he is inaugurated, POTUS has "ultra max galactic purple retina only" clearance.
until Inauguration Day, i would still insist on getting a signed Non Disclosure Statement before conducting any such briefings.
My guess is that if he ever DID fill one out, he would have a hard time holding on to even his Senate seat...