Don and Bob....
Don't thank ME --- thank yourselves for being interested enough to read and take action.
As Don said.... you could have thrown darts at a Wall Street Journal and made a gain in this market.... BUT that is the way the market works! You have to learn to take easy with the hard. BUT if you're not in at all -- you don't get doodle. Up 15% for a couple years in a row -- then you might go sideways for awhile - then you might go down for awhile - and then bang you're up 20% again.... ALL THE WHILE GETTING PAID.
Work is like that -- super busy - then fearing a layoff.... if you stick to it work hard - next thing you know - all is okay again. But even when you're fearing getting laid off -- you're getting paid. If you hate your job you might be inclined to look for other opportunities.
The stock market is like that! I do my best research and shopping etc when the market SUCKS! It forces me to get my act together and really be wise in my choices - really think about what I'm buying... So sometimes it's actually kind of a good thing.
Right now it's all fun and games. I can go play in the shop - come back and see I've made "X" while goofing off. It won't always be like that.... But let's say the market sells off 10% (a real correction) --- do I care.... sure... but then the dividend comes in - and one company is paying me 6% -- and another is paying 5% -- and another is paying me something else.... And if I've been in the market long enough -- I might have a 15% gain -- so the sell off only reduced my "gain" temporarily. And now the dividends are buying shares at that reduced entry point... and therefore buying me MORE shares than if the market was full tilt boogie... so there's some offset for the pain I'm suffering.
BY THE WAY -- you don't loose anything if you don't sell. Just as could be said that you don't have a gain until you sell and take it... but long term -- eventually you'll sell -- or sell part -- or use the collateral to have cheap borrowing (cash on cash borrowing is always cheap!).
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