So, why is it advisable for ANYONE to invest their nest egg in the stock market?

[begin_within]

It's like investing your nest egg at a craps table in Las Vegas.

[skooooo]

1. Because over time, it has always made money...always. nt

[girl gone mad]

2. It only took 50 some years..

for people to get their money back after the 1929 market crash.

[lligrd]

3. Pyramid Schemes Always Do

Until they don't. The Market just starts a new scheme every so often.

[skooooo]

6. Don't invest if you don't want to...

I'll go with the odds.

[lligrd]

13. Not Really A Choice Anymore

It has been shoved upon us.

[sendero]

7. A very common misconception..

.... that many folks are going to learn about the hard way.

First of all, your point isn't really historically accurate, and second, what happened in the past is not remotely guaranteed to happen in the future.

[Occulus]

28. That's why it's so easy for felons to get jobs and housing!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist. You left the door wiiiide open.

[Ikonoklast]

19. Tell that to someone that was going to retire in January

And now doesn't know what to do because the 401k he was in lost 40% of it's value.

Time frame means everything.

[TexasObserver]

27. That doesn't help the people who lost their ass and then had to cash out.

Take a good look at the DOW from October 1987 and for the three years that followed.

THAT is what can happen when investors ride it all the way down.

If someone is sure they don't need the money they have invested in the stock market the next three to five years, leaving it in during a recession might be a sound strategy. Otherwise, NO.

[ThomWV]

36. At least someone gets it. There is so little understanding of the market here its astounding.

[livetohike]

4. If you are in it for the long run, you'll make money

It's the people who treat it like a casino that get burned. That's why it isn't good to pull out right now. You have to have a strong stomach, but that old axiom, "Buy low and sell high" is true.

[Vickers]

25. "It's the people who treat it like a casino that get burned."

Ding! Ding!

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Many of the market naysayers on DU are more suited to craps than, say, poker.

Or checkers instead of chess.

:P

[speedoo]

5. If you really want to know, read this book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Random_Walk_Down_Wall_Street

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. One of my favorite books...

...press it upon strangers in bus terminals.

Well, not really. But to anyone who asks, I recommend it.

For the really Big Picture, try Robert Heilbronner's The Worldly Philosophers.

[NNN0LHI]

9. If you are not someone receiving inside info it is a crap shoot

If you are someone who is receiving inside info its a sure thing.

The question is which one are you?

Thats the way I think it works.

Don

[depakid]

10. Dafer investments often earn less than the real rate of inflation over time

So in essense, you're losing money.

[Turbineguy]

11. In order to make it work

new money has to come into the market. Everybody who works in the market and lives off of it, takes money out.

We made a mistake that's been made before: The idea that the markets can create wealth. They cannot, they only represent wealth. Wealth is created in farms, factories and places where tangible products are produced and sold.

If people think that the markets will provide them some return at a reasonable risk, they will return. But the markets have to be regulated to function in a fair and orderly manner. When the "uptick rule" for short sellers was repealed in the summer of 2007, the stock market became far more unstable.

[Tesha]

32. That's not true.

Your "share" of a corporation represents a real slice of the entire
value of that corporation. If they consistently make profits, the
value of the corporation increases and it is entirely reasonable
that the value of your "share" increases. As long as the market
is operating rationally*, because the underlying value of your
"share" has increased, people will be willing to pay that much
more for your share.

Tesha

* Please note that I make no claim that the current sham
calling itself a "market" is at all rational; it's operating in
a mode that is much closer to a rigged casino, simply
suckering in new rubes to fleece them of their money.

[upi402]

12. It took 8 years after Nixon

for it to come back to decent gains from where it was.

[1]

16. its a marathon, not a sprint...

it goes up, it goes down.

and if you haven't lost money in the market then there is no "8 years" or "50 years" for you to recover from.

the smart buy low. only the foolish jump on board when it is up. look at all of the morons here that would have you putting your money into gold or euros. yeah, that's wise financial thinking...


the stock market is not going to go away. love it, hate it. buy. don't buy. whatever makes you comfortable...

[Celeborn Skywalker]

14. Best way to keep up with inflation.

At least, it has been in the past.

[1]

15. buy low, sell high...

it can't get much lower.

don't blow the nest egg out in the stock market but now is a perfect time to put some money into some carefully considered stocks. think of it as a sale at filene's basement.

you would be foolish not to...

[sendero]

37. Bottom fishers..

... often get their asses handed to them.

The only thing that has propped up this market for the last 6 months is the dumb money that keeps thinking that stocks are "bargains" just because they have gone down.

The pump-monkey financial media has been calling a bottom over and over. They've been wrong, and anyone thinking we're at a bottom now is also wrong.

There will be a time when getting into the stock market will make sense if you have the cash and the time. But now? No way. The 401K redemptions have just begun.

[Marsala]

17. Now really is an okay time to buy

For someone with a little judgment and a LOT of patience, a good amount of money could be made just by buying at the market lows, then holding for several years until the high is reached and selling. Then repeat.

Day trading is completely insane, of course.

[bridgit]

18. Can you imagine what SS would look like today if they'd have jumped in years back

with privatization x(

[Name removed]

20. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

21. If you're in your twenties. If you're in your thirties-sixties maybe invest a chunk

n/t

[CK_John]

22. Add a little clorox to your account and hold your nose if you have to. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

23. It's not

[Gold Metal Flake]

24. "I know better how to invest my money than the Social Security people"

So sayeth every asshole Fox watcher who would state an "opinion" on the subject prior to last week.

[TexasObserver]

26. Investing in the stock market IS gambling, as many found out this week.

And just like gambling, you shouldn't do it unless (1) you understand the game, (2) you understand the risks, and (3) you have the discipline to take your winnings and walk away while you're doing well.

The theme the past eight years has been that anyone can do it, so everyone should invest in the stock market. Eventually, people who did not really understand the ups and downs of the stock market, and did not see this coming got hurt.

Ideally, people know when to get out of the stock market and put their holdings in safer investments until the market returns.

[B Calm]

29. I look for the Dow to go sky high after the election. Confidence will

be restored when Obama wins the presidency! Buy cheap now and reap the rewards.

[Tesha]

30. Because, in the L-O-N-G run, the market does rise...

at least roughly commensurate with the rate of inflation.

But for most Americans, "the long run" now seems to be
the time span between lunch and dinner; we've almost
completely lost our ability to think in terms of years,
let alone decades.

Tesha

[Tesha]

31. (Duplicate posting removed by author)

[cureautismnow]

33. Historical Review of Bear Markets on MSNBC

"September 1929 to June 1932 - The stock market crash of Oct. 29, 1929, marked the start of the Great Depression and sparked America's most famous bear market. The S&P 500 fell 86 percent in less than three years and did not regain its previous peak until 1954."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27072080?pg=2#Biz_BearMarkets

Ouch! 25 years to get back to square one!

:hide:

[melm00se]

38. that assumes that

you bought in at the peak and made no additional purchases/contributions during the down period.

if you had made purchases that reflected the S&P 500, over those 25 years you would have made money on the all the purchases made post bottom out.

the market is, as was pointed out earlier, a game and to play the game you need to understand the rules, risks and rewards. Putting money in the stock market (heck any investment) is not a passive activity - it requires that the investor monitor what is going on and make changes to ensure what they are doing is part of an orchestrated plan to maximize the return to coincide with a specific event (ie retirement or the children's education).

If a person has the same asset allocation at 60 that they did when they were 25 and got zapped, then shame on them.

i might suggest the following for personal financial education:
401(k)'s for dummies http://www.amazon.com/401-k-Dummies-Ted-Benna/dp/0764554689
Investing for Dummies http://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Fifth-Eric-Tyson/dp/0470289651
Mutual Funds for Dummies http://www.amazon.com/Mutual-Funds-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/0470165006

[Hannah Bell]

34. seems to me its not a casino, but a confidence game. certain players get the use of opm

to leverage for their own benefit, and the option of manipulating its value to their own advantage. but i suppose its the case with money in general.

[rucky]

35. I think the odds in Vegas are a bit better right now. n/t