13 comments

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  Curmudgeon

  9 months ago

  >>the old paradigm of “just invest in the market and ride the ups and downs” may not be applicable anymore . . .
  
  Sadly, you may be right, Steve.
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  plonkee

  9 months ago

  You can't have it both ways. Index funds are invested in shares. It's either a good idea to do that, or it's not.
  
  The problem with both real estate and a business is that they have a lot of risk attached - on a small scale, they aren't normally diversified.
  
  In the long run, everything will be fine. I mean at least the US economy is relatively diverse, the British economy is strongly weighted towards financial services so we're scuppered.
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  Steve @ bripblap

  9 months ago

  Plonkee, I guess I'd say that index funds at least broaden your risk across multiple industries and (in my case, investing in a lot of international index funds) across countries. Investing in an individual stock concentrates your risk dramatically.
  
  I think everything SHOULD be fine long term but it's hardly assured. I can be sanguine since I'm still at least a few years away from retirement, but I feel bad for someone here in the US who has no pension and was counting on cashing in their IRA/401(k)s to retire in the next year or two. We'll see, I guess...
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  plonkee

  9 months ago

  If you're close to retirement, and have all your money invested shouldn't you have moved much of it over to safer investments by now?
  
  Part of the thing here is that I'm so far away from retirement now, that other than the basics (move to safer investments) I'm not sure that I've actually got a feel for how you manage your move into retirement. Hopefully that'll be something for the personal finance community of the future to talk about.
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  Emily

  9 months ago

  That last paragraph sums it all up. At the end of the day, what more can you do?
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  Chad @ Sentient Money

  9 months ago

  Unfortunately, it is tantamunt to theivery. All these bailouts are prolonging this downturn.
  
  @Emily
  We can continually contact our congressmen and vote for slightly smarter people...just a little might be enough.
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  Moneymonk

  9 months ago

  The last statement will never change. Stick to it.
  
  Stop chasing high returns
  
  Be the Tortuise and not the hare
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  CraigK

  9 months ago

  Sadly it seems that there is little we can do. A lot of these stable institutions are losing money and taking because of it a lot of investing confidence is being taken away.
  
  Craig
  www.budgetpulse.com
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  deepali

  9 months ago

  I'm going for that last line. There is no stock market where I'm moving to. :)
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• 

  smartenup

  9 months ago

  Surely, you must be crazy?
  
  An insane person is someone who keeps doing the same thing (investing in the stock market) and expecting the same result (becoming wealthy) only it never works out that way. Yet, they keep right on doing it.
  
  Wall Street is corrupt. Always was and always will be. No politician is going to change it. Not in 1987. Not in 2001 and not in 2008.
  
  You'd be better off investing your money with drug dealers or art thieves.
  
  Eventually one day, after you've lost your shirt, you'll get over it. Notice that the windows on the AIG building are mirrors?
  
  Here's looking at you, kid.
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• 

  lisa

  9 months ago

  the AIG building also looks like it was made of cards.not very steady or strong. Wish I'd noticed that before!
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  fathersez

  9 months ago

  The age of thieves! Well said. Now only if these guys were treated as thieves, then maybe the next generation may not be that susceptible to thievery.
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  Lucinda

  6 months ago

  I started buying antiques at house sales, reselling them for at least double what I paid, then reinvesting the profits in higher quality items. As long as I keep compounding my money, I'll surpass what my broker ever did for me. There's a guy in Northfield, Illinois - a dealer/collector of 45 years who will teach and help anyone who wants to learn. He's at http://www.31corp.com.
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