Stock market crash

[exodus]

This is really getting ridiculous.

I was cash in my 401k most of the year (except for my company stock which i sold two months ago) i bought in on the drop and lost nearly 10% so i cashed out and decided to wait. The S&P 500 is currently down 17% from when i sold which was just last friggin week.

In my regular account i have just been trading in and out with very mixed results. My shorts haven't had the best timing and it is definitely tough to short with the market down this much because the reversals can be so fast. When i have tried to buy the dip i keep getting nailed and forced to take a loss.

This is really getting rough.

Today i just said screw it and bought back in with my 401k which will execute at the close. But i am still in WTF mode with my regular account. I don't know what to do.

[AHF]

I am just leaving my money in and continuing to buy with the market down. I don't know enough about the market to try to short or chase rapid fluctuations.

[tmac13]

This is really getting ridiculous.

I was cash in my 401k most of the year (except for my company stock which i sold two months ago) i bought in on the drop and lost nearly 10% so i cashed out and decided to wait. The S&P 500 is currently down 17% from when i sold which was just last friggin week.

In my regular account i have just been trading in and out with very mixed results. My shorts haven't had the best timing and it is definitely tough to short with the market down this much because the reversals can be so fast. When i have tried to buy the dip i keep getting nailed and forced to take a loss.

This is really getting rough.

Today i just said screw it and bought back in with my 401k which will execute at the close. But i am still in WTF mode with my regular account. I don't know what to do.

Wait till it bottoms out which should be somewhere between 8000 and 8500 on the Dow Jones. It should hit that mark either tomorrow or Monday. Then buy back in and and watch it climb. All the investors I know, including me, have been looking for the 8000 mark as the bottom.

[exodus]

I am just leaving my money in and continuing to buy with the market down. I don't know enough about the market to try to short or chase rapid fluctuations.

It is really tough to trade right now because if you guess wrong you can be down big in a hurry.

I am home sick today and i was watching CNBC. They said a lot of the selling after 3:00 is probably due to people trying to meet margin calls. It makes sense so i will probably stop trying to buy earlier in the day.

My cousin is an investment broker. A few months ago he said he had $130 million under management. I am afraid to ask him how much it is now. he is very conservative too but that isn't helping him much in this market.

[exodus]

Wait till it bottoms out which should be somewhere between 8000 and 8500 on the Dow Jones. It should hit that mark either tomorrow or Monday. Then buy back in and and watch it climb. All the investors I know, including me, have been looking for the 8000 mark as the bottom.

You may be right but picking a bottom is pretty tough. Usually the bottom can only bee seen in hindsight.

[tmac13]

You may be right but picking a bottom is pretty tough. Usually the bottom can only bee seen in hindsight.

Yeah I know its an inexact science but I have heard 8000 from alot of people I know and respect as their jumping in point. When its hits I expect the market to jump back up very quickly and balance itself out between 9500 and 10500 untill after the elections.

[mattlanta]

Buy gold.

[Swish]

Buy gold.

There's more wisdom in that than you may realize.

[mattlanta]

There's more wisdom in that than you may realize.

I wasn't kidding... buy gold (GLD), silver (SLV), or any of that other stuff. When currencies go down, the people go to the safe haven of gold. I also invested in Yamana Gold (AUY). And ofcourse I don't invest with my money, I'm still 16. But I tell my parents here and there what they should really be buying, and at this point, it's clearly idiotic (harsh word though) not to have any gold stocks.

[Diesel]

I am just leaving my money in and continuing to buy with the market down. I don't know enough about the market to try to short or chase rapid fluctuations.

If you have money to spend (expendable) it's a great time to buy. I suggest apple if they go down any further. If you look over the market... over any 5 year period, it always rebounds from a steep fall. In fact, it usually makes up the difference plus. Only if you're close to death should you be trying to get money out.

[Diesel]

There's more wisdom in that than you may realize.

You have to explain that one to me. I realize it never loses value. However, I have always looked at that as being a gimmick. When the market is high, Gold doesn't appreciate. It's only when the market takes a plunge. Hencefourth, I always look at the purchase of Gold as being a no gain... It's like putting money into a file cabinet and not touching it.

[mattlanta]

You have to explain that one to me. I realize it never loses value. However, I have always looked at that as being a gimmick. When the market is high, Gold doesn't appreciate. It's only when the market takes a plunge. Hencefourth, I always look at the purchase of Gold as being a no gain... It's like putting money into a file cabinet and not touching it.

Well it's simply the fact that when the currencies go south, the world turns to gold. Stock prices usually go up.

I was thinking of making a group in www.stocksquest.com for Hawksquawk. Just to see how we all do in investments.

[tmac13]

Well it's simply the fact that when the currencies go south, the world turns to gold. Stock prices usually go up.

I was thinking of making a group in www.stocksquest.com for Hawksquawk. Just to see how we all do in investments.

Diesel is right about gold. If you invest 100 dollars in gold in 10 years you still have 100 dollars. Over time the stock market ALWAYS makes money. What you have to do is learn to be patient and ignor short term gains or loses.

[Swish]

I wasn't kidding... buy gold (GLD), silver (SLV), or any of that other stuff. When currencies go down, the people go to the safe haven of gold. I also invested in Yamana Gold (AUY). And ofcourse I don't invest with my money, I'm still 16. But I tell my parents here and there what they should really be buying, and at this point, it's clearly idiotic (harsh word though) not to have any gold stocks.

Wise beyond 16, I can tell you that.

Diesel, :

http://the-moneychanger.com/

Not all of his views are on the level but his economic and financial insights are very interesting.

And correct me if I am wrong (Hey, I'm only three years older than Libid), but I was under the impression that gold continues to rise in value?

This from Wikipedia:

Gold versus stocks

The performance of gold bullion is often compared to stocks. They are fundamentally different asset classes: gold is a store of value whereas stocks are a return on value (i.e. growth plus dividends). Stocks and bonds perform best in a stable political climate with strong property rights and little turmoil. The attached graph shows the value of Dow Jones Industrial Average divided by the price of an ounce of gold. Since 1800, stocks have consistently gained value in comparison to gold due in part to the stability of the American political system. [34]This appreciation has been cyclical with long periods of stock outperformance followed by long periods of gold outperformance. The Dow Industrials bottomed out a ratio of 1:1 with gold during 1980 (the end of the 1970s bear market) and proceeded to post gains throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The ratio peaked on January 14th, 2000 a value of 41.3 and has fallen sharply since. William Anton III wrote in the 2004 issue of Jefferson Coin and Bullion "...downward movement in the Dow/gold ratio is unlikely to stop precisely at the mean trendline. The extreme distension of the the 90s will likely overshoot to the opposite extreme in the current cycle.

In November 2005, Rick Munarriz of Motley Fool.com posed the question of which represented a better investment: a share of Google or an ounce of gold. The specific comparison between these two very different investments seems to have captured the imagination of many in the investment community and is serving to crystalize the broader debate. Source: [15] [16] At the time of writing, a share of Google's stock and an ounce of gold were both near $700. On January 4, 2008 23:58 New York Time, it was reported that an ounce of gold outpaced the share price of Google by 30.77%, with gold closing at $859.19 per ounce and a share of Google closing at $657 on U.S. market exchanges. On January 24th 2008, the gold price broke the $900 mark per ounce for the first time. The price of gold topped $1,000 an ounce for the first time ever on March 13, 2008 amid recession fears in the United States.[35]On September 21, 2008 gold closed at $862 per ounce while Google closes at $449.15.

Seems that gold is a more stable investment?

[exodus]

If you have money to spend (expendable) it's a great time to buy. I suggest apple if they go down any further. If you look over the market... over any 5 year period, it always rebounds from a steep fall. In fact, it usually makes up the difference plus. Only if you're close to death should you be trying to get money out.

A guy i work with has held apple from 37 all the way to 202 and didn't sell so he has ridden it all the way back down.

If i am not mistaken Steve Jobs has some health issues though. I don't know how serious they are but i would definitely check it out before buying to hold long term.

[exodus]

Diesel is right about gold. If you invest 100 dollars in gold in 10 years you still have 100 dollars. Over time the stock market ALWAYS makes money. What you have to do is learn to be patient and ignor short term gains or loses.

Gold has had a pretty nice run lately.

click

But i definitely wouldn't be looking to buy here.

[Swish]

Diesel is right about gold. If you invest 100 dollars in gold in 10 years you still have 100 dollars. Over time the stock market ALWAYS makes money. What you have to do is learn to be patient and ignor short term gains or loses.

Actually...I don't think so. If one day gold is $500/oz and ten years later it is $850 and you sell...you have made money. Right?

[Diesel]

A guy i work with has held apple from 37 all the way to 202 and didn't sell so he has ridden it all the way back down.

If i am not mistaken Steve Jobs has some health issues though. I don't know how serious they are but i would definitely check it out before buying to hold long term.

I promote apple because of the innovation.

I remember some time ago, apple was way down and looked out.

Then came the ipod.

I remember actually having a conversation with Chillz on here about it. We were talking about the ability to have a handheld storage unit that can hold songs and then having a hub of songs that you can buy anything for .99. I remember CHillz Scarfing at it because everytime I mention apple he scarfs.. but you have ipod and itunes... And the Apple PC.

I guess along with apple, you got to mention Google. I remember back when the thing was AltaVista... They blinked and Google came out of nowhere...

[Diesel]

Actually...I don't think so. If one day gold is $500/oz and ten years later it is $850 and you sell...you have made money. Right?

I wasn't saying that gold doesn't appreciate.. In a stagnant market gold looks very good. However, when the market is moving... Gold will slink back to just a safe stock. Can you make money with gold.. Sure. However, if you follow that oz of Gold oz of stock (I wouldn't use Google per se... but would try to identify a stock that has the potential to rise... like a GSK or a large biotech firm that has global appeal... Astrazenaca)...the largest stocks usually don't move much unless the market drops or some new technology comes from it.... If you follow Google, they're due for a rise... simply because they dropped. It's a good time for them, but I wouldn't stay there once the market equilibrates.

[mrhonline]

To be honest, I'm looking into a PhD in Applied Linguistics because I'd like the backup option of moving to Europe or Asia (particularly Asia) if need be.

Even if this latest crisis evens itself out, we still have a HUGE deficit in this country and virtually 99% of the electorate don't understand we cannot sustain this level of spending long-term.

I'm no economics expert, but I'm no pessimist either. I just think the U.S. days as financial king are past...

Edited October 10, 2008 by mrhonline