[kebark]

Originally Posted by kork13

What is this heresy? Logic? Reason? Forethought? That has no place in my personal finances nor investing practices!

...sorry, I was channeling the typical casual investor for a second there....


This is just once again the typical question people ask when they're scared by the market's recent activity. That fear tends to cause unwise decisions for the long-term. For somebody in their 40's, let alone 20's or 30's, it's a flat out DUMB decision to get out of the stock market (or stop buying into it) just because portfolio values fall. The market will spike and crash at least 3+ more times before they even consider taking any money out of their retirement accounts. Even for people in their 50's, 60's, or even perhaps 70's, stock exposure is still important, as over the long term (the 20+ years that retirement lasts), stocks provide higher returns to keep the total portfolio alive while slowly draining it down.

When will people learn?

Never people are fools, it must be admitted that the most foolish fools are the ones who who lose out whilst the smart ones make a killing.