[kelly]

I don't personally think we'll find a "bottom" to this spiral until:

1. The bookkeeping witchhunt is over.
2. The war begins--we know who we're fighting with and who we're trading with.

I think the war will begin soon. I'm not sure about the other thing. I think we have a few more bankruptcies to go. There sure were a lot of companies that couldn't possibly have been making money in the technical industry for the last few years.

 

[coolvij]

My college fund is down nearly 50%......................so I feel the pain.........[sigh]

 

[gloco]

Let's form a band of bank robbers and start hitting up banks, coolvij has to go to college

and we need to fund our "habits"

We can call ourselves....the ceo's

Sounds good

 

[kerelybonto]

Don't worry about it, coolvij, they'll just give you more financial aid. The poorer you are, the better!

kerelybonto

 

[acs236]

It's not a witchhunt if it's really happening!

 

[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by acs236 It's not a witchhunt if it's really happening!

So you're implying there weren't any witches in England during the burning times or New England in the 1800s? Be careful.

The innocent shall not go unpunished in these investigations. Count on it.

 

[DarkAngel]

Ugly Ugly Ugly!
If this is what a recovery looks like, we are in real trouble. I am starting to wonder if below 1000 Nasdaq is going to happen in the next few weeks........this is an absolute technology industry massacre, does not bode well for future of this country (or world economy)

 

[eeyssjr]

Surely by chosing to invest in the stock market you knew about these risks? Blue chip or no blue chip, you have large downsides as risk.

Try government bonds or a savings account if your retirement rests on it. Otherwise you makes your bed, you got too lie in it - sometimes there uncomfortable.

I feel for the losses youve made though, i mean, it hurts when you lose so much. but it seems the unexpected has happened, and when it comes down to it, the stock market cant take what's really important to you. War can though.

DarkAngel - when you say you lost seveal $100K, did you mean yourself personally. If so your playing with the big boys.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Quote:

Originally posted by eeyssjr Surely by chosing to invest in the stock market you knew about these risks? Blue chip or no blue chip, you have large downsides as risk. Try government bonds or a savings account if your retirement rests on it. Otherwise you makes your bed, you got too lie in it - sometimes there uncomfortable.

On your first point...I tend to believe that people got caught up in the hype and are now tryin to blame corporate CEO's for making them lose money...while some did commit outright fraud and lied to investors, many investors simply invested without thinking, and just assumed the stock market would continue to explode. My brother had 100's of thousand of his commission dollars all tied up in his company's stock. He was convinced he was going to retire at age 45. Now, he has been laid off, his company stock is nearly worthless, and he is scraping by as an assisstant manager in a kitchen with no health benefits.

I don't blame corporate American, I blame my brother for his naked greed and short-sightedness.

On you second point....you sure do have to lie in your bed, which gives me the perfect opportunity to introduce my new mutual fund....I call it the Mattress fund. It's trading as MATTF. Just take your pay earmarked for retirement and stuff it in the Mattress fund. You are guaranteed steady returns!

 

[Magicthyse]

Fortunately, I didn't lose that much in real wealth - rather the opposite, actually - thanks to a superb fund manager who advised me against most Internet stocks - his words more or less in 1999 were "Most of these guys are ********ters and pretty boys who don't know what they're doing. Give it a couple of years and the stock market will realize how much they've been duped, the results won't be there and the stocks will fall correspondingly. I'd be surprised if the stocks are then worth ten percent of the current market cap" - and of the 'tech' stocks I held, he sold a large majority of them for me in early 2000, against my vague protestations - he's a bit of a Magicthyse too, convinced of his opinions

What I did lose is a lot of credibility. I helped bring two companies to the market, and also helped a number of startups with much the same business models of other similar businesses during the bubble era. Needless to say, some investors will no longer talk to me...

 

[fredpb]

I tried the stock market many years ago. I could do nothing right.
Research, history, nothing helped. Same with mutual funds.

As I got older I put my retirement more and more into fixed income. Less and less of a percentage in the stock market.

Now 80% of my retirement funds are in fixed income, and suffered nix. The other 20% is just in IBM stock. I will leave it there. I remember when IBM dropped to below 35. Then up it went and split a couple of times. Done right by me.

Too many people fell for the stock market happiness. Fodder!

The rich guys needed some money to take out, so they took out YOURS, because you put it in for them!