Is investing even worth it at this point?

[lawsman92]

Sorry if this is a dumb question to some of you. I was just having a conversation with a good buddy of mine regarding the future of the stock market and investing in general. Basically he was shooting down all ideas that pertained to investing, especially in stocks or mutual funds. His argument against investing was that the economy and stock markets were going to completely collapse and dissolve. This guy is into the conspiracy scene, so sometimes I dont know how much to take as fact. But upon researching the subject, a lot of experts are saying the same thing- that market is falling. Ive talked to quite a bit of people that invest and most of them say that being successful and wealthy will be very hard, if not impossible compared to when they started in the 70s and 80s (im 21 for the record) Its hard finding motivation to be successful and to utilize investing when all of these people are predicting that we are basically going into a huge depression. Are the days of being successful and investing coming to an end? Or is it just another hiccup in the economy? What do you think?

[bennkar]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

OK, with that outta the way... Could the market go sideways or down some in the coming few years? Yeah, there are indicators out there to say that. But there are indicators pointing the opposite direction. Sooo.... what do you do?

Buy gold? Maybe, but its gone down lately.

Invest in housing? That did well last decade , and the only reason prices are stable is the ridiculous low interest rates. If those rates rise, housing prices will go down again.

Just save? Getting nothing for your savings while there is inflation isn't a great idea. And then if you talk about what happened in Cyprus to savers.... sometimes even guarantees aren't kept.

Savings bonds, TIPs, etc.... who knows????

Really nothing is a sure bet right now. If there was such a thing, people would be running straight for it like you wouldn't believe. You're 21, you have time on your side. You should save as you can, learn as much as you can about investing (and not from your drinking buddies), work on becoming self sufficient (learning to do things for yourself easily has the best return on investment), and don't stress so much.

And btw, if I had to say what to invest in, I would say large cap dividend paying stocks. Yeah, they may be overpriced, and may drop some, but nice sized dividends while you are learning the ropes is always a good thing.

[phantom]

I figure that if the stock market completely collapses and if the financial world as we know it comes to an end, there isn't much to be done to prepare. Perhaps it will be good to be well stocked in guns and food and well equipped with the skills to take care of yourself. But, it will be hard to say, "All that money I saved in stocks, bonds, and other traditional savings vehicles would have been better in X, and I should have known it." So, why not save and invest as though the world isn't going to come to an end and prepare for what you know how to prepare for?

I suppose that if you were fairly certain that things were definitely going bad, you might say it's better to enjoy your money today rather than saving it and risking it becoming worthless. But, I'd rather find myself at the end of the world with unspent money than in a world that decides not to end with no money to take care of myself. Call it Pascal's Wager on faith in the markets. I'm betting that the markets will continue to exist because I see little to gain in betting that they won't.

[shaggy]

I wouldn't take your friend's advice.


if the market was to collapse, we would all have bigger problems than worrying about our money. We could have a mattress stashed full of cash that was worthless.

I am NOT a doomsday prepper, and I believe the markets are still very strong.

[Petunia 100]

Well it all boils down to a simple question...will corporations figure out how to make profits?

I believe that yes, they sure will. So, I just continue to hold broad market index funds (both domestic and foreign) and wait to participate in those profits. It has worked out rather nicely for me so far.

[rennigade]

Thank god I didnt listen to your friend. If I would have I would be out of roughly $13,600 in gains so far this year.

[Baby_nurse]

Is the market going to stall? Yup. Is it going to crash again? Yeppers.

But over any given 30 year period, it's also risen consistently. Will it rise like it did in the 70's? I hope not. I don't want to see people paying 18% on mortgages like they did back then.

Out of curiosity, what does your friend propose you do with your money?

[bjl584]

Yes. Investing is well worth it.

I graduated college in 2000 and had about $2500 to my name. Today, 13 years later, I have an investment portfolio worth nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

Since 2000, we have had 9/11, and a housing meltdown, but I have stayed the course and continued to save and invest.

[feh]

What do you think?

I think you should ignore your friend.

[iassetmanager]

A lot of so called smart hedge funds people are betting that the market is going to collapse and all and as you can image they have been wrong many years in a row (you can see that from their poor performance). As long as there is FED running the show there is no fear for market collapse. When FED moves out of the way just be ready to short. You can make money when markets are going up or down.

[bUU]

You could just as well ask, "Is life even worth living at this point?"