Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (38248)	12/5/1998 10:38:00 AM
From: accountclosed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

MB, there is a discussion about baby boomers on another thread. To me this stuff is as stale as Joe B. saying that technology is changing the way we do business. The arguments are primarily, as always, that baby boomers need to save for retirement. I have some observations for you to comment on if you want. 1. The inflows to mutual funds don't BEGIN to explain the explosion in market values. It is a matter of a lot of other factors, too. If the public is dumping say 200 billion in a year, people fail to realize that the Willshire was up 200 billion yesterday. (I know there are multiplier differences now, but originally Willshire 5000 was set up to be able to be read in billions). A small market order can move a stock 50% or more if there is no one taking the other side of the order. The fact is that the public is dazzled by returns and isn't selling. Also if you take the inflows and divide by the population of the US, you don't get very impressive figures. 2. A lot of the "savings" that people think they have are false. Consider the macro picture. If all these investors want to cash out, who are they going to sell to? I think that the downside of the baby boom is going to be a real bust. "But we thought we saved for our retirement". When the flows go the other way, look out. There is an illusion of retirement "savings", probably causing people to be less prudent in retirement planning than they need to be. The bubble is causing that illusion.