As the U.S. stock market slump continues, this financial adviser says he saw it coming several months ago.
"If you didn't get out of the market, I guess you have to ride it out. We pulled more than 90 percent of our clients assets out of the stock market the first week of January," said Troy Neff with Advanced
Retirement Solutions.
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Dear God, melissa Voetsch is lovely.
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'I used to have compassion, but they taxed it and legislated it out of existence.'
...I am not a "professional" investor. I read a few books when I was younger (including the one about the "Wealthy Barber"), and tried to allocate my investments and forget about it. Now that I am retired (and no longer can invest in the federal employees' "Thrift Savings Plan") I still put about $50 a month in a mutual fund, and hope for the best. I really rely on my retirement (just as a younger person should rely on their income) to live day to day. I look at my "net worth" in my mutual funds a couple of times a year. I have consistently seen it trending down over the last couple of years. I hope for the future (I don't need the money now) but I know a lot of older people who bought in to the 401(K) plans 20 years ago are probably f_cked. Of course if you're younger and you know what you're doing there are lots of "buying opportunities" if you have the income to risk a substantial portion. For the rest of us we will likely recoup our loses if we are around in 20 years. In any case the fund managers can "party on".
The so-called financial advisors have yet to explain how a value-dropping "fund" is better than a CD, whose value is assured by the FDIC.
As a retired person, you should not be gambling AT ALL with your money. Even $50 a month is too much at risk to losing to the moneychangers.
PLEASE. STOP. The more you feed that beast, the more power it gets over EVERYONE. Witness the $700 billion the U.S. Congress just STOLE from everyone just to make a few bankers whole. It's obscene. It's just leading to a horrible Depression.
Although the average return on stock investments in the 20th century, through the highs and lows, is around 10%. Investing is a gamble, but has been a long-term success through the last 100 years. Keys are diversity, diversity, diversity. I was watching a recent presentation on retirement plans, and one of the key pieces they brought up are that (a) in the market, much of your yearly gains can come about from 5-10 days worth of activity (b) having a diverse portfolio is key in safer, but significant returns. The market will rebound, but it will take time. And if you have time and money to invest now, it ends up being a good time to do so.
You're not going to be around for another 100 years. You should be worried about the cost of fuel in the next 10 years. Gambling and losing in the largely-fixed stock market isn't going to help you prepare for a future of increased fuel costs and decreased employment options.
And here's another little tip: The 20th Century won't be repeated. The 21st Century is only turning out to be an elitist's dream century, where the capital gains for the laboring classes from the 20th are being cashed out in order to return those classes to the working environment of the 19th Century.
Anyone who thinks they can make up for low wages by having some sort of stock portfolio is just insane. While the market manipulators are playing games with your portfolio, your income will continue to fall. The end product is a poor person who doesn't even have stock certificates to burn for heat.
The requirement of SAVING MONEY AS MONEY was never revoked. Save money FIRST, then secure yourself against assaults on your expenses NEXT, and then (and ONLY then) can you rightfully claim to have excess wealth to speculate or take risks with. And on top of that, your speculation or risk-taking should be in the form of CREATING BUSINESSES, not moving funny papers around.
In simple words, your FIRST investment with any money you have, is YOURSELF. SAVE MONEY AS MONEY, and use that money to decrease your expenses. Invest in yourself.
Honestly, why the heck do I have to explain over and over about the merits of SAVING MONEY? And then why do I have to explain (... patiently, I might add) how some mutual fund is NOT SAVINGS?!?!
Did I equate savings with investing? I don't see it in my postings. Investing is taking a gamble, for sure, but one that, OVER THE LONG HAUL, has produced larger gains than plopping your money in low-rate savings or CDs. And the message is that it is definitely a longer-term view of handling your money.
Decade Average Return Per Year
1900s 9.96%
1910s 4.20%
1920s 14.95%
1930s -0.63%
1940s 8.72%
1950s 19.28%
1960s 7.78%
1970s 5.82%
1980s 17.57%
1990s 18.17%
I don't think anyone is refuting your view of saving money as being important. Yes. Do it, and do it a lot. But in preparation for retiring (particularly if invested early and letting compounding interest work for you), or looking to grow your money over a longer period of time, history shows that investing in a diversity of sources, (various types of stocks, bonds, notes, cash, etc.) has proven to be an effective way to do so over the last 100 years. You can predict that the market will never recover, or that it will all simply wash away, or whatever. (Many did in 1987, when the market crashed horribly - and it came back.) And who knows, it may. Or money tucked away in savings accounts may not keep up with inflation and rising expenses, and lose their value over the years as well. You have to make informed decisions, decide what you're comfortable with, and follow-through.
Speculation into creating businesses? I don't know where that comes from as a better way to speculate with your money. Many businesses fail within the first few years of starting.
Stock market as a way to make up for low wages? Nothing makes up for low wages. I don't know who says that.
I agree that the 21st century will not be like the 20th. It appears as if you have a very fatalistic, dystopian view of it. I would disagree.
The real problem is why the common man is "in the market". That's gambling. You shouldn't gamble with your savings. PERIOD.
I guess the common man will have to get soaked AGAIN just to make the point clearer. The middle class has to SAVE MONEY AS MONEY, and then use that money on things which SAVE THEM MORE MONEY into the future. What's left over from that process can be considered true excess wealth which you can then rationally take risks with.
There are waaaaaay too many little Donald Trumps walking around. I recall having a so-called conversation with some shitape on this site, where he was aghast that I was deriding his "gonna get rich" attitude. People just don't understand statistics ... the vast majority of you CAN'T be rich, no matter how hard you try. You should live within your means and use your own resources that you should be realistic about. That results in you NOT buying into some fucking McMansion or taking some high-powered job that largely just saps your life away and alienates your children (remember them?).
If you told people that you buy lottery tickets as your scheme for retirement, they'd hoot and howl at your foolishness. But for some reason, when you say you have your money in Super Happy Fun Fund or something, they laud you endlessly even though the same logic applies (i.e. gambling is a poor way to maintain wealth, much less BUILD it).
I'm now waiting for the retail consumer markets to seize up from being overheated with stupid purchases in the first place. It all couldn't be sustained. Welcome to the Great Depression II.
...anymore, or are most people just holding stocks to sell to the next fool? I know that with mutual funds I get very little in dividends. I suppose the same would be with 401(K)'s unless you invested in DRIPs, and bought individual stocks. I know that the patron saint of the "free market", Adam Smith, had a very low opinion of stock companies, but we've been "trained" to believe that the stock market (because of past performance since 1900, except for the "hiccup" in 1929-1939) will always go up. The same is to be said of real estate. The real winners are those "in the know". The rest of us are just along for the ride (or are we being ridden?)