Dow approaching 7300

**disneysteve** · 02-20-2009, 07:53 AM

I agree. Seeing the account balances plummet is getting old. I know retirement is still about 18 years away, but at this rate, it will be a lot longer than that.

I did make one change and change the allocation in my daughter's 529 plan. I redirected new money into a more conservative portfolio. She's only got 6 years before college and I'm not confident that things will recover by then.

**bjl584** · 02-20-2009, 08:28 AM

Yes, watching my money evaporate is getting old.

**Goldy1** · 02-20-2009, 09:00 AM

I agree. It is ridiculous. The commnet on the 401K being a "failed experiment" as being quoted from an article might be extreme, but it is a valid point of view an dnot just b/c people dont' use it or understand the market.

It all just seems too tied together;economic confidence, job loss, government spending, home values decreasing.
How is the market ever going to recover from these things and by then we will be on to the new batch of bad news to bring down the market.

Cover to cover bad news in the newspaper, each day lists of compaines laying off;predicitons it will get worse next year and beyond etc. Yea like stocks are gonna rally soon.

I will be loooking at other vehicles in lieu of stocks down the line. Already have money tied in low interest vehicles like bank accounts and cd's and do not plan to buy more stock soon. Retirement? haha. I guess I might have to settle for getting by and working part time til I drop or more. lol

**sweeps** · 02-20-2009, 10:23 AM

In related news, gold is back to $1,000 an ounce.

**Snodog** · 02-20-2009, 10:58 AM

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

**Broken Arrow** · 02-20-2009, 11:45 AM

Originally posted by Snodog View Post

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Haha, great line and how appropriate it seem.

I don't like it either. On the bright side, I love how much more I can get for the dollar in my retirement contributions.

**GREENBACK** · 02-20-2009, 01:22 PM

Can't see much light at the end of this tunnel. In my mind I'm weighing going more conservative but then will I ever be able to recover. I can't imagine owning a bunch of financial stocks now. Talk about broke!

**Johnstone** · 02-20-2009, 04:35 PM

This is getting to be a "how long can you go?" game for me, as I only just turned 20 and haven't set up my portfolio yet. I'm looking forward to getting some major bargains in the summer, particularly with S&P500 benchmarked index funds. I thought we already hit bottom, but it's looking possible for the DOW to go below 7000 and the S&P below 700, amazing.

**Scanner** · 02-21-2009, 03:26 AM

I am lucky I didn't put all of my money in investments. I was told here that silver and gold aren't really investments because they don't ever grow.

But I didn't listen and was stubborn and sank a large amount of my portfolio in it anyway.

Lucky for me I don't own investments.

**disneysteve** · 02-21-2009, 04:43 AM

Originally posted by Scanner View Post

I am lucky I didn't put all of my money in investments. I was told here that silver and gold aren't really investments because they don't ever grow.

But I didn't listen and was stubborn and sank a large amount of my portfolio in it anyway.

Lucky for me I don't own investments.

I wouldn't say gold isn't an investment. I'd just say that it isn't a very good one. Gold at $1,000/oz. today is only a little over the price it was in 1980. If its value had kept pace with inflation, it would be over $2,000/oz. today. Will you be happy with your investment if 29 years from now it is worth exactly the same amount as it is worth today?

**tripods68** · 02-21-2009, 08:54 AM

I'm hoping to get down to 5000. The sooner we get there, the faster we can start looking forward to the recovery. Its just like looking a dying person on respiratory machine, the doctors have tried everything but no brain activity. We should be pulling the plug now. Instead we are just keep waiting and waiting.

**Goldy1** · 02-21-2009, 12:50 PM

do we know for sure it will go up?

**disneysteve** · 02-21-2009, 12:55 PM

Originally posted by Goldy1 View Post

do we know for sure it will go up?

If there is no recovery, nothing we do will really matter.

**GREENBACK** · 02-21-2009, 01:56 PM

I talked to a friend today who knows much more about investments and the market as a whole than I do. He convinced me to stay strong with my investments. It's not that I don't think things are going to recover. I was getting nervous about my situation with my time horizon getting shorter. I'd love to be starting a career and investing right now but that's not the case. Still, I think I'll take his advice and continue to ride the rollercoaster and hope that the turnaround comes sooner rather than later.

To respond to Goldy 1. If the economy never recovered it would'nt matter what you have lost because your money will be worthless anyway. Total economic collapse would put us back to bartering for the things we need.

Dow approaching 7300