"People who do math don't have credit card debt."

[oil pan 4]

Personal.
I know people who lost more than half of their retirement during the 2008 crash because they just let their money sit in Stock funds as the market crashed and burned.
One person at nasa I knew lost over $200,000.

Making or not losing thousands dollars per year is worth the time. All it takes is around 5 minutes once or twice each business day to check oil, gold, stock prices, trade volume, then on the 20th check the jobs and consumer numbers then each quarter the quarterly reports. On the 20th and quarterly reports you might spend a little more than 5min.

If legitimately stupid people can check fantasy football crap every day and make money off it then the average proletariat can make money and prevent catastrophic loss in the stock marke by checking it daily.

[Xist]

What would they say in their own defense? "I'm not a rocket--oh wait."

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

If legitimately stupid people can check fantasy football crap every day and make money off it then the average proletariat can make money and prevent catastrophic loss in the stock marke by checking it daily.

How about checking Ecomodder regularly?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

I wonder if Buffett says index funds will only return 7% is because he expects a zombie apocalypse under Turnip.

I have had people say "If you cannot afford to fix your car, just don't fix it."

How about the E.R.?

Rates of growth are unsustainable. "Only 7%" is a lot of growth. That assumes the economy doubles every 11 years.

POTUS has very little to do with economic output. When was the last time you picked up more clients, or lost some, due to The President?

If a car is necessary for income, then it needs to be fixed and a CC can be used as a last resort. Otherwise, a car is a luxury.

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I know people who lost more than half of their retirement during the 2008 crash because they just let their money sit in Stock funds as the market crashed and burned.
One person at nasa I knew lost over $200,000.

Making or not losing thousands dollars per year is worth the time. All it takes is around 5 minutes once or twice each business day to check oil, gold, stock prices, trade volume, then on the 20th check the jobs and consumer numbers then each quarter the quarterly reports. On the 20th and quarterly reports you might spend a little more than 5min.

If legitimately stupid people can check fantasy football crap every day and make money off it then the average proletariat can make money and prevent catastrophic loss in the stock marke by checking it daily.

If everyone did this, then there would be no advantage. The stock market is a zero sum game, which is why I don't like to play. I'd rather make my money producing something of value than shifting around funds and hoping to be better at it than the big players with insider info.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Xist

I wonder if Buffett says index funds will only return 7% is because he expects a zombie apocalypse under Turnip.

No. While I can't read Buffett's mind, the reason for saying that one should expect a 7% annual return on stocks over the long term is simply because that is what the stock market has returned, after inflation, since at least 1950. Of course this is for long-term investing, say 10 years or more. Any individual year can fluctuate wildly.

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I know people who lost more than half of their retirement during the 2008 crash because they just let their money sit in Stock funds as the market crashed and burned.

How did they lose money if they just let everything sit*? Sure, if you looked at the numbers at the end of '08, things were pretty dismal, but if you let it sit until the end of '09, most of that loss was recovered. Let it sit until today, and you're way ahead :-)


*Unless it was a managed fund, and the managers panic-sold.

[oil pan 4]

I don't know why she left it in there I think the only time she checked it was when quarterly statements got mailed out.
I bought back in when the stock market started to recover. Some time in 2009. After what just happened I was not going to try and catch a knife in free fall.

[redpoint5]

I have my fully matched 401k contributions in a Vangard index fund and I never look at it. I'd be interested in taking an active roll in managing it if I knew enough to make wise moves. That said, the average fund manager cannot outperform the average market, so that's why I don't have an actively managed fund (either by myself, or others).

[oil pan 4]

If you put your money in there and forget about it you make 7% a year on average over the long term.
If you do a few creative predictable things like trade out stocks for safe haven bond funds in September or October then buy back your stocks in or around the very end of the year if consumer spending appears to be on track. You miss the traditional 4th quarter down turn.
Just doing that every year can double your return.

Because over the history of the stock market October and November are by far the worst months for stock performance. But on the other hand January and July are the best.
So be out in October and November and in January.

This strategy takes 0 understanding of the stock market to pull off. If you can read a calendar and gain access to your retirement and move money around, well that's all you need.

[freebeard]

Would that you'd had my back when I divested my Symantec stock option in 2002. A same day sale for Apple stock would have gone 10x.

[Xist]

Cool story. Did anyone get out of the housing market before the crash?

[oil pan 4]

For stocks yes, but I bought a house in 2007 pretty much at the peak of the housing bubble.
So over all I would say I took a loss.
The people who sold me the house made off pretty well.