If you have talked to a stock broker or financial planner in the last few days I will bet they all agree that there are some great bargains out there and now is the time to start buying in anticipation that the market will go back up. You will also find agreement from the talking heads on CNBC and those talk radio station stock mavens. No one says sell. It looks like bottom pickers heaven.
A year ago when the Nasdaq was 2000 points higher they were telling you the same thing. Buy. Buy. Buy. If they are so smart to get you to buy now then why weren't they smart enough to tell you to sell when it was way up there? There are two basic rules for professional traders: never let a profitable trade go to a loss and never take a large loss. The talking heads are either not professionals or don't understand their business.
Since the beginning of the year the tech stocks have lost 34% and from last year they are down from the highs 65% and it looks like they are going lower. Isn't it time to end the bloodletting and sell? The problem with the small investor is he doesn't believe he has a loss until he sells. Wall Street has taught him that the market 'always comes back'. Folks, not this time.
All classes of mutual funds have posted losses in the first quarter of 2001 for the first time since 1980.
Has your broker or financial planner called you to sell out to go to the safe haven of a money market fund? I will bet he hasn't. Unfortunately these "experts" are not taught to protect your capital. They will watch their customers' account dwindle away 30%, 40% 50% and more and never do anything about it. It isn't their money. It is yours. You have to take the responsibility to guard it. The average broker has 300 clients. Unless you are a 7-figure account you will not receive any attention. Of the 77,000,000 mutual fund owners in the U.S. 80% of those accounts have less than $50,000. Their advice is either none or bad.
We know the economy is slowing down and has been since early last fall. The market was continuing to go up in anticipation and was ignoring underlying facts. The emotional enthusiasm was carrying it to new highs almost every day. Of course, Mr. Greenspan didn't help anything by raising interest rates when he should have known better. It is the brokers' job to sell stock and make commission, but it should also be his job to advise the neophyte investor to protect his capital.
The trend is your friend. The trend is down. It is still not too late to sell and put what's left of your cash in a money market account. Forget about your losses. That money is gone. You must protect what you have left. Never try to pick the bottom. There are no "bargains" at this level. Cash is the best position right now.
Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
Copyright 2005
shuttle to Midway Beardstown .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareWall Street's watchword has always been diversification, but what does... Read More
In his wonderful book, 'Multiple Streams of Income', best selling... Read More
Regardless of the fact that the world's stock markets have... Read More
The following are a list of nine things you want... Read More
Mutual funds are doing more and more to discourage investors... Read More
Now that you have some money burning a hole in... Read More
Having lived aboard a sailboat for 2 years I was... Read More
If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend... Read More
Today we are inundated with tons of information about the... Read More
Just 30 years ago the stock market was a shadow... Read More
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a group of passive index... Read More
An investor can find and research the best stock on... Read More
If you go to Haiti or other places in the... Read More
Spread trading is a technique that can be used to... Read More
On November 17 I bought 7 different mutual funds and... Read More
In my opinion, due to the volatility of stock market... Read More
Everything you invest in has risk so you want to... Read More
We learnt the following the hard way! If any of... Read More
Refuse is a serious issue in any society, about as... Read More
Never lose money in the stock market again. Yeah, I... Read More
Where is the beef? Or maybe it should be where... Read More
If you don't know what a Roth IRA is then... Read More
Look back over the years and try to remember how... Read More
The debate rages all over Eastern and Central Europe, in... Read More
Let's go into the details of why non-indexed mutual funds... Read More
Green Bay Hummer H2 SUV rentals ..I often play a little game with myself when I... Read More
Have you seen all those big full page ads for... Read More
"If you don't know where you are going, any road... Read More
After finding the price of a particular stock, usually the... Read More
For years I have been saying you must have a... Read More
Maximizing a stock market investmentThere are several factors an investor... Read More
On November 17 I bought 7 different mutual funds and... Read More
In one of my previous articles (Investing in the stock... Read More
Question: How does it get better when it gets worse?Last... Read More
Let's hope you did not have any of the Enron... Read More
Do you own any mutual funds? In an IRA or... Read More
Time to look back2004 is over, now we are in... Read More
Let's go into the details of why non-indexed mutual funds... Read More
(1) CHK stock price $16.74, NAV $32.5CHK is my favorite... Read More
Today we are inundated with tons of information about the... Read More
Where is the beef? Or maybe it should be where... Read More
Congress recently passed another new law that is supposed to... Read More
During our travel down life's path we come to many... Read More
Sidney felt sick as she looked at her latest OptionsXpress... Read More
Reach in your pocket and take out that big roll... Read More
If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend... Read More
You must take the time once a month to review... Read More
As the man said, "I've got some good news and... Read More
The Bollinger Band theory is designed to depict the volatility... Read More
You have a lock on your house. You have a... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |