[badger74]

Not a pretty picture. I might never retire.

[From the class of 09]

Not a pretty picture. I might never retire.

Great buying opportunities.

[Hold My Own]

"Investors Are Hoarding Piles Of Cash At Banks Amid Market Freak Out" http://read.bi/pzyPQD

I guess not all agree it's a good time to buy...problem is nobody knows the bottom. We may sure find it though...

[alabama24]

I know it can be depressing, but it is important to keep things in perspective:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
Ps 20:7–8 ESV

[LUconn]

If you believe that, then I have some bridges to sell you.

Have you seen our infrastructure lately? We're on like year 60 of 50

[ATrain]

Yeah, the Republican "trickle-down," theory of the 00's: FAIL!!!
Obama's stimulus: FAIL
QE1 & QE 2: FAIL

Since it appears the fed and the government are out of "stimulus," options, maybe now the economy can truly correct itself. Think of the economy like a helium filled balloon...every now and then, if you want to keep it in the air, you have to put more helium in. However, Obama and Bernanke have, everytime its started falling, instead of letting it get to the helium tank just hit it (Stimulus, QE1, QE2) causing it to rise with no real substance behind that. Now that those tools have been exhausted, we're going to have deflation...lower prices mean more things become affordable, including gas and food, which will give consumers more purchasing power to drive up demand. Of course, deflation will given Ben Bernanke a heart attack...but on the bright side, we'll have a new chairman of the Federal Reserve.

In the meantime, I'm just going to sit tight and watch...I'm still up from when I initially went into the stock market in 2009, still up from investing in BP at the height of their oil spill crisis last year...but down quite a bit over the past 10 days. And I do trust that Pepsi, Johnson and Johnson, and BP will all survive a depression if that is indeed where we end up.

[LUnpretty11]

I know it can be depressing, but it is important to keep things in perspective:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
Ps 20:7–8 ESV

This has been my family's "life" verse for the last 8 years+ ... So much truth and comfort in that verse.

[jbock13]

I know as far as my investments go, I'm waiting for another collapse. I knew that the stock market at 12,000 was way too high, given the shape of our economy.

Personally, it would have to drop to about 9,000 for me to feel comfortable with investing again. Just be smart, and don't panic when these "bumps happen". That, and never sell low.

I'm not a huge Bush fan, but I remember when people were whinning about 5.2% unemployment during those evil trickle down economics (of course, the evil, being sarcasm).

Also, have to agree with BYD. Bernanke will not stop with QE. Heck, the Washington answer to all our problems is when something doesn't work, just try even more of it.

[jbock13]

Keynesians will always feel the need to "do something". Heck, people that supposedly believe in free markets can't seem to resist the urge to take part in economic interventionism when market corrections are occurring.

Perfect example is on those "your house sucks, my house is better" shows on HGTV. This family is moving out of their house and selling it during the height of the recession. She goes, "but wait, we might have to sell this out for less than we bought it?"

I was dumbfounded. Yeah. You made a bad investment. This is the consequence. Anybody with common sense could have seen the housing bubble coming. I have the money to buy a house, but with the bubble still going, I know I need to keep waiting.

Lastly on the show, she said it wasn't fair that they would lose money on the house. What is fair? Life isn't fair. In fact, there's no such thing as fairness. I hate that word.

[From the class of 09]

This market is completely driven by fear...nothing that major came out yesterday that justifies the markets being down 3-4% around the world. Also if you're worried about QE3 & 4 no better reason than to stay out of US cash and fixed instruments. Not saying everything is a good buy but when $GG $AAPL $GE $XOM $KO & $GOOG are all down 3-7% in a day there are some serious buys on the board.

Insert oracles famous quote

[ALUmnus]

There's always an opportunity when things go sour. I work for an insurance/financial services company. Back during the initial financial crisis, our stock price was actually under $1 (I think it got down to around 70 cents). In less than a year it was back up to $18. I kick myself every time I think about it.

[blwall1416]

http://mises.org/daily/5512/The-Austria ... -Yet-Again

[From the class of 09]

There's always an opportunity when things go sour. I work for an insurance/financial services company. Back during the initial financial crisis, our stock price was actually under $1 (I think it got down to around 70 cents). In less than a year it was back up to $18. I kick myself every time I think about it.

Small world I was actually an intern at GNW at that time. Have they hired back a lot of their work force? I took two weeks off when they let people go in Jan of 09 to get married, talk about a nerve racking time.

[ALUmnus]

I don't know if they've hired back to the level that they let go, but there have been plenty of openings for the last year.

[From the class of 09]

This market is completely driven by fear...nothing that major came out yesterday that justifies the markets being down 3-4% around the world. Also if you're worried about QE3 & 4 no better reason than to stay out of US cash and fixed instruments. Not saying everything is a good buy but when $GG $AAPL $GE $XOM $KO & $GOOG are all down 3-7% in a day there are some serious buys on the board.

Insert oracles famous quote

The market is driven by fear, but it's also driven by a continuing realization about the unsustainable nature of our current system. You shouldn't pull your money out of the market b/c you fear quantitative easing programs, as you rightly point out cash isn't your friend in those circumstances. You should pull it out b/c this isn't the bottom. If you fear QE, you should put it in gold and silver.

Exactly, nothing was realized yesterday that should amount to the drop that happend as it was driven by fear. Also agree that commodities are a traditional inflation hedge which further shows the insanity yesterday as both gold bullion and gold stocks were down.

Also HMO the institutianal and corporate money moving into banking accounts was flowing from conservative fixed investments at least the large portion was. Can't say I disagree with this move although for the typical non-retired investor I can't see why anyone would own anything in the bond/muni market at the moment. Why take a risk with no upside.

[From the class of 09]

You are smart enough to know that you can't look at one day. Gold was down, but it is coming one day off of the all-time high. Gold is and will continue to rise. The market has been down 9 out of the last 10 days, plenty of numbers and policy decisions have taken place that caused this trend.

Oh I agree but I was just trying to point out there were buys to be had yesterday (at least for the short term). If everything is going down it's usually time to buy the only question is what?

[badger74]

Yes, I did pretty well in the last bottom buying in around 6500-7000 and selling around 11,000 with just three stocks--Genworth, General Growth and ProLogis. Tripled my $$$ but only bet what I could afford to lose. I will do what I did last time--leave it alone and hope that it comes back in a couple years or less. I don't see it going down to 6500 again. If it does, I'm going all in this time.
Now one of my renters in Lynchburg just gave notice after signing a new year lease a few months ago. Not happy. My lawyer has been alerted, but it's hard to get money if they move away.

[SuperJon]

Yeah, it's pretty brutal to watch this thing sliding further into recession.

However Badger, the good news is that Christ's promises for our life remain strong and true, even if those don't include retirement. It's all His.

Nice Jesus Juke there. Well played.

[SuperJon]

It was a joke. This is what a Jesus Juke is.

[LUnpretty11]

Wouldn't really call what BYD did a "Jesus Juke" SJ... the topic at hand isn't exactly a happy-go-lucky type of conversation... A lot of people are freaking out about what's going on with the market and BYD brought up a comforting reminder. Don't think anything was wrong with that at all....

[SuperJon]

Never said there was anything wrong with it. The "Jesus Juke" was a joke because that part of the comment came out of nowhere. Jesus Jukes aren't always bad things. Sometimes they're very much needed.

[jbock13]

Yeah, if I know one thing about investments, it's that buying at all time highs are always a good idea!

All kidding aside, gold will head back down in the future. I know all you goldbugs will get upset at me, because Glenn Beck says to buy gold, so please leave your comments below.

[jbock13]

BYD, sorry I didn't make this disclaimer but I didn't mean you listened to Beck. I should have done a better job separating my comment.

My fear on gold is that it's extremely shaky. Also, it's at an all time high. Usually that's not good for investments. Granted I can see why people want to invest in it, but it's a very risky thing right now to begin.

As for wall street, I haven't sent a check to my mutual funds in 3 months because I feared at 12,500, the stock market was bound to collapse soon. I advised my parents the same thing and they're pretty happy with me about right now.

To those of you who are worried, don't be. Markets go up, and markets go down. Don't panic. Just stay the course.

[flamehunter]

Sorry, jbock, but it seems to me that gold is not what is shaky. What's shaky is the dollar. Gold is something that is finite, they can't make more, and it is something that will always have value. The day may come that the dollar is worth less than the paper it's printed on. I think you'll agree with that. You generally seem sensible.

[jbock13]

I don't disagree with you flamehunter. I just don't think it's a wise investment at this moment in time. Once the price comes down, then I'll see about it. Trust me, I'm aware the dollar can be used for toilet paper due to the "soft money" policy of our screwed up Fed. in 2007 1 USD gave me 3.4 Peruvian Nuevo Soles. In 2009 it was down to 3. Now, it's 2.75.