Dow 20k

[Nutria]

I'll maintain my previous lack of caring.

My uncle was right 30 years ago when he said that the stock market was nothing but gambling.

[rennigade]

My uncle was right 30 years ago when he said that the stock market was nothing but gambling.

Pfftt. What isnt a gamble in life? I get hit almost daily crossing the street in the crosswalks when the walking sign is illuminated. Crossing the street here is a gamble.

[Nutria]

Pfftt. What isnt a gamble in life? I get hit almost daily crossing the street in the crosswalks when the walking sign is illuminated. Crossing the street here is a gamble.

There's a difference between risk and gamble.

[StormRichards]

Pfftt. What isnt a gamble in life? I get hit almost daily crossing the street in the crosswalks when the walking sign is illuminated. Crossing the street here is a gamble.

Seems like every crosswalk I walk through is a gamble these days.

[StormRichards]

Dow needed just a 5-cent bump in any blue-chip stock to reach 20,000

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/06/dow-needed-just-a-5-cent-bump-in-any-blue-chip-stock-to-reach-20000.html

[disneysteve]

My uncle was right 30 years ago when he said that the stock market was nothing but gambling.

There's a difference between risk and gamble.

Exactly what Nutria said. Yes, there is risk in investing but equating that with gambling makes no sense.

For that matter, even the term "gambling" is overly vague. If you walk into a casino, there is a huge difference between playing a penny slot machine and playing a full pay, jacks or better, progressive video poker game. The difference in odds is tremendous.

[disneysteve]

So a serious question about the whole Dow 20K thing.

Who actually would make investment decisions based on the index hitting some arbitrary number? Would any of you buy (or sell) stocks just because the Dow got to 20K?

[Jluke]

So a serious question about the whole Dow 20K thing.

Who actually would make investment decisions based on the index hitting some arbitrary number? Would any of you buy (or sell) stocks just because the Dow got to 20K?

I am looking to buy but as odd as it may seem that 20k mark doesn't really seem to be arbitrary to Wall Street because it would have surpassed it by now if it was just a number. I'll liken it to a milestone age such as turning 40 or 50 or 60.

But I'll buy on Tuesday in my Roth and then that will trigger the decline. My stocks are up but trading in a tight range lately. Whether it hits 20k or not I don't think it will lead to a huge increase in the next year for the stocks. Always a chance for that pullback all the media hype has been pumping for the last few years. In 10 years I hope to look back and see that this was just noise.

Disclaimer. Bought BRKB late December in taxable. Contribute 1800/month in 401k; scale back in June to get the full 18k and company match.

[Nutria]

So a serious question about the whole Dow 20K thing.

Who actually would make investment decisions based on the index hitting some arbitrary number?

I'm sure that many computerized trading systems have "Dow 20k" as a benchmark for "over-inflated" and would automatically sell. A 2-3% dip wouldn't be unexpected soon after piercing 20k. After all, graphs in the real-world never go straight up or down.

[Nutria]

Bought BRKB late December in taxable.

When googling "BRKB", I discovered that Berkshire Hathaway owns GEICO.

Who knew?

[kork13]

When googling "BRKB", I discovered that Berkshire Hathaway owns GEICO.

Who knew?

::Raises hand::
I actually took advantage of that a while ago. I had GEICO car insurance for about 4 years, and early on learned about the Berkshire Hathaway ownership. Trick is that they offer an additional discount for stockholders, so I decided it was as good a reason as any to buy a stock that I was interested in anyway. So I bought a few BRK.B shares, and much appreciated the ~$50/yr discount for basically doing nothing.

[feh]

So a serious question about the whole Dow 20K thing.

Who actually would make investment decisions based on the index hitting some arbitrary number? Would any of you buy (or sell) stocks just because the Dow got to 20K?

My approach is the same as yours Steve - 20K is just an arbitrary number in one stock index. Doesn't make a bit of difference.

As for others - humans are irrational/emotional and will react to such a milestone. Lots of books on behavioral investing.

[StormRichards]

So a serious question about the whole Dow 20K thing.

Who actually would make investment decisions based on the index hitting some arbitrary number? Would any of you buy (or sell) stocks just because the Dow got to 20K?

There is a psychological aspect to this "arbitrary" number. Like Jluke said, if it was arbitrary there wouldn't be the pull back when it gets close.

As for me personally, we only invest through automatic transfers based on when we receive our paychecks.

[disneysteve]

There is a psychological aspect to this "arbitrary" number. Like Jluke said, if it was arbitrary there wouldn't be the pull back when it gets close.

I would love to see some proof that the "pull back" from 20,000 is significantly different than the movement of the market as it "broke through" 19,800 or 18,500 or any other number like 19,237. I suspect that is user bias and doesn't really exist.

I'm just not understanding why anyone would look at the Dow figure, see that it's almost at 20,000, and decide not to buy or sell whatever they were thinking about buying or selling based on that. But I'm happy to be educated on this if anyone can point me to a source that actually explains it with evidence, not just opinion.

[rennigade]

20k...made it!