Marie...a correction today??? We are now trading where the Dow was early last week, and we're still up 437 Dow points since October. What a bargain, Greenspan's remarks dropped stocks to the price level they were at last week! This can't even be considered a short-term correction and IMHO we'll see DOW 7000, Nasdaq 1350 real soon.
Marie, respectfully, give up on the small investor because he/she isn't going to listen to you (very street smart), me (a bear), or an old fuddy duddy party spoiler like Greenspan (a very, very smart man). The small investor has been under sigh-cological conditioning for some time and has been programmed to:
1. Always buy on the dips or ignore the dips.
2. Don't fear price drops because stock prices always recover.
3. Don't ever sell because then you'll have to pay 33% taxes on gains and have less to invest.
4. Buy lots of technology shares at any price since future revenues/earnings will come if investors are patient.
5. Someone will always want to buy from you at a greater price because stocks always go up over time not down.
6. If you don't invest in the market you must not be very smart because all your friends are making a "killing".
7. Stocks are the only place to put your money where it will earn a better return for you, even if the market is up 90% in 2 years.
8. Don't listen to the opinions of one person like Elaine Crazyelli or Greenspan because they have been proven wrong by the market many times over.
9. Don't ever sell cause you'll miss the next jump up like the 1500 Dow point move this year.
10. What ever you do don't try to time the market, just keep plowing your money back into the stock market thru retirement plans etc.
11. All the people who have bet on the market going down have lost a lot of money and are very embarased. Don't be like those people.
WOW! It's gonna take more than a few remarks from Greenspan to change this psychology. You can't help small investors that have succumb to this way of thinking...just ask Michael Burke (Ask Michael Burke thread) who gets bashed from the MU "traders" who are experts with 1 1/2 years experience. I've even tried in vain to help out small investors with advanced college degrees by telling them not to put ALL of their life savings in one stock. (These types usually like restaurant chains or a tech company with no patents and no sales.) Can't help the little investor if they won't listen.
Okay, all done ranting and raving. BTW it's nice to hear from a woman on these threads as SI looks to be overly male dominated. I think I read a survey that woman leave investing to their spouse but I never understood why. Remember, it is inevitable that small investors will buy near the top and sell at the bottom.
Regards,
David |
