let us take a moment of silence to hope and pray we recover from these negative numbers soon. At this current rate of loss, I may retire when I'm 95 years old. Who said savings accounts are a bad investment ? How did the stocks ever get run up so far only to fall so far because of over-evaluation? Who do you blame for something like that? The stupid .com revolution where anything with a .com was drawing the dumb investors. Hey, look I've got a BS product, a website, and people investing 4 million dollars in my crap. Investors were just throwing their money at anything and everything tech or web related. They didn't care what its prospects were...just put it in there...it's got to make money...it's .com . I(X Internet company) haven't even made any money yet but I've got investors lined up from here to China. That was the norm a few years ago. It show's how smart investors can be...only if you got out before the bottom fell out. A lot of people got burned. All driven by greed. Everyone was clamouring about how the NASDAQ hit 5,000 and the DOW JONES hit 10,000. What a great time it was? Let's all ring the bell and clap! NOT!!! I don't have a lot of money invested at the moment(thank God). Hell, now is probably the time to invest but even experienced analysts keep saying the market has hit rock bottom but yet it continues to go down. Buy now...they say...then the bottom falls out again. Their supposedly long-term strategies are clouded by short-term decision making. There has been some very interesting articles talking about that very thing. So, when can we see some recovery from this recession? Where do we go from here? How much farther can the market fall? I know there are many bargains out there now. I wish I could determine what they are. Hell, aren't they all bargains now? Tech...that word is like the angel of death. DIE TECH DIE!!! Let's jump on blue chips. No...SELL SELL...jump on tech stocks...no let's go to financial stocks...no wait....I think I hear medical stocks calling. The trend lately is a small run-up followed by a sell-off ultimately taking us back to where we began...which is the bottom of the barrel. I have to wonder if Alan Greenspan did enough or anything at all to control the run-up prior to 2000. I mean...it was out of control. All the tech stocks were through the roof. Everyone was doing so well. It as all a big fat LIE. I have lost some money on paper in my mutual funds and some individual stock investments. Not much because I am young. But, I am in it for the long-term. It just amazes me what has happened in the last few years...a severe upside followed by a severe downside. Clinton still taking credit for this crap? Where's my damn tax cut? I need to get my money in the market. I mean...it couldn't get much lower than it is now. We might get rich by investing wisely now, get another severe run-up, SELL SELL SELL that crap. I'm outta here. Take my money and run. See ya! I just love to hate the stock market. They say your supposed to check how your stocks are doing once or twice a year. Like we all follow that advice . The stock market is probably as close to hell as you can get when it's going bad. Surf ------------------
Nice rant Surf. Busy at work again? I'm generally intimidated by the stock market because I have very little understanding of investment stuff except to know that I could lose my ass. I've got money in mutual funds and IRAs and plan to just leave them alone (except for making contributions along the way) until I retire. I just hope the information I've gotten on those two investment options holds true - that is that they are relatively safe, long-term options. ------------------
Ah what's to dread... in 30 years you won't even remember this... ...well, maybe not ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
Oh, and regarding your "bargains" out there... I'm looking at Oracle's P/E ratio right now and it's under 15... yet I'm too scared to pull the trigger. I've got about 50-60% of my portfolio in cash and am adding to that cash allocation from my paycheck every month. I want money available when the bull starts bucking again... Think happy thoughts ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
As any investor says, "Buy Low, Sell High - Invest for the long term" This is the best time to buy as stocks are the cheapest. Have no fear! ------------------ Nice guys finish last ... and im surely not going to finish last!
About a year ago, you'all were goin nuts over the market. Now we never hear a peep out of anyone.... ------------------ humble, but hungry.
I'm too young to work about the market falling (I'm under 30) and yeah I have been losing money too, but I'm just happy to be buying at a discount now. Now if I was close to retirment I would be freaking out, but no worries yet!
I agree with 4chuckie, I'm just waiting to DCA into some good tech stocks. Apparently Oracle is set to announce poor earnings today which should send their shares a bit lower, but that was expected news... let's see how the market responds (or over-responds)... ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
The only problem with long-term investment (which I DO support) is the fear of inflation. Now granted, with Greenspan at the helm we don't have a lot to worry about in that regard. The problem is that if you loaded up on tech stocks in March of 2000, the value of the dollar will have shrunk considerably by the time those stocks rebound completely. In other words, everyone says "Just hang on to your stocks!" If you bought Dell when it was at $60, you've lost roughly $36 per share. By the time Dell stock climbs back to $60-- if it ever does, and any one that works here can tell you that there are significant obstacles to be overcome-- $60 won't buy as much as it would have when you bought the stock, thanks to inflation. Kind of a pain. I can commiserate with anyone who's taken it in the ear. I was lucky enough to get out of a couple of investments last June-- not because I knew what was coming but because I needed cash in the short-term. The stock I sold is now worth half what it was when I sold it. Yikes. Anyway, the Porsche fund is a thing of the past. ------------------ Pollution rules! Clean air sucks! I hope you're coughing, where ever you are! [This message has been edited by BrianKagy (edited March 15, 2001).]
In other words, everyone says "Just hang on to your stocks!" If you bought Dell when it was at $60, you've lost roughly $36 per share. By the time Dell stock climbs back to $60-- if it ever does, and any one that works here can tell you that there are significant obstacles to be overcome-- $60 won't buy as much as it would have when you bought the stock, thanks to inflation. Inflation lowers the value, but stocks still provide the best value. Savings account rates tend to match inflation, meaning you gain nothing by keeping money in a savings account. CD's are only slightly higher. The market and mutual funds are substantially higher (avg something like a 12% return over the course of history vs. 5% inflation). Granted, for that 7% return, you take huge risks and can get seriously screwed by sever drops (as I have ). In your Dell stock example, Dell's stock will likely reach $60 again well before inflation raises makes $36 = $60. At 5% inflation (higher than recent years), that would take $10 years. If Dell isn't at $60 in 3 or 4 years at most, something will have gone terribly wrong in the company. ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets. [This message has been edited by shanna (edited March 15, 2001).]
I have taken my money completely out of the stock market, and I have begun to use the money in an investment scheme that is more stable than the market is currently. I wager on sporting events! ------------------ "Blues is a Healer" --John Lee Hooker
To put things in perspective, early last year I was buying stocks of companies that probably are worth squat now and making a killing. I was snubbing mutual funds that returned anything less than 30%. My mutual funds were averaging about 75-90%. Fast forward... Late last year I put a chunk of money into a 1-Year CD that yielded about 7.35% and I was ecstatic. Weee... ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
Good thing I invested all of my money in ... oh, wait. I just remembered, I don't have any money. I am knee-deep in student loans, and will be busy repaying them for the next decade. You poor people and your low rate of return on investments. ------------------
A, re: something wrong with the company, no comment. B, maybe I'm the victim of fuzzy Republican math again here... but if I spend $60 on one share of Dell stock and we suffer 5% inflation for four straight years, that means it would take $72.90 after four years to have the same purchasing power that $60 had four years earlier. (Example: 5 percent of $60 is $3. So after one year it takes $63 to match the purchasing power of $60 a year earlier). Meaning that Dell stock doesn't have to get back to $60 for the buyer to break even in real dollars. It has to reach $72.90 to adjust for inflation. Is that wrong? ------------------ Pollution rules! Clean air sucks! I hope you're coughing, where ever you are!
Hell Sam, your condition is even worse... I can't empathize with ya, but I feel for ya. I know programmers I used to work with in their late 30's/early 40's still trying to pay off loans and raise a family. ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
Meaning that Dell stock doesn't have to get back to $60 for the buyer to break even in real dollars. It has to reach $72.90 to adjust for inflation. Is that wrong? That's right. However, at this point, your $60 is already gone -- the stock is only worth $36. To get back from $36 to $60 just using inflation would take about 10 years. Its highly likely that you'd get to $60 much faster by keeping the stock (barring the something-wrong-in-the-company issue ) -- meaning you'd be beating inflation. The alternative is to sell the stock and get your $36. However, anywhere "safe" you put it (CD's, savings account) would be less likely to beat inflation. That's all I was saying ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.
shanna--I love you! ------------------ "There's a lot of things you can say about playing with Dream, but I get to say, `I played with the Dream.' That speaks for itself." --Walt Williams "****!" --Kenny Thomas
shanna--I love you! OK, this scares me. ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.
