Stock Market: Time to Play?

Seeing as the DJI is hovering around 8200, lowest in 5 years, do you guys think it might be a good time to put some money into the market? I'm not to into the market and stocks, but I have always been told that the market always points up over time. I am especially interested in tech stock, ie google, microsoft, intel, they are all at a 52 week low...good time to buy?

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jbaello

I'm also a noob when it comes to stock, but it would be interesting to find out some of the peeps feedback in here, I would be interested in google and apple haha, if I heard correctly apple share dropped to almost 50 %.

astorrs

How old are you? Can you afford to leave the money in for a while?

learningtofly22

Now is the best time to buy, stick to market funds instead of individual stocks, they have a better chance of return. I usually put about 80% into funds and 20% into stocks to "play" with. YMMV. All depends on how old you are, how much you're willing to risk, and how much you're willing to work on it day to day. If you're the type that wants to look at your stocks every hour and decide to buy/sell, like a day trader, then your strategy will be different.

vsmith3rd

This is never an easy question to answer, because it depends. You have to ask yourself the following...

1. What are my financial goals?
2. To what element of risk am I willing to expose myself?

From these two questions, will flow many more questions. Specifically, the follow up questions will be more detailed. For example...

1. Am I looking for growth or dividend income?
2. Am I looking to invest short, medium or long term? This question can mean different things according to your age and goals.

The answers to these questions are vital when considering sound investments. As you can see, I haven't even touched the more detailed stock market questions like...

1. Am I looking to buy mutual funds or individual stocks?
2. What sector of investment should I expose myself to (tech, financials, goods and services, health, REITs, emerging markets, etc, etc, etc, as the options are way too numerous to list)

What I'm getting at, is there is no easy answer for this question. I'm no financial guru, not by a long shot, but I did have a period of my life where I became obsessed with investing and growing my money, so I did tons of research and self teaching. As a result, people occasionally ask me "What should I invest in?" I always answer with question one "What are your goals?" I'm a firm believer in tailoring your investment strategy to your own personal situation, and the very general questions I listed above are usually pretty good places to start.

With that being said, they're are always excellent opportunities to be found in the stock market. I encourage diversification. For example, I'm currently exposed to about 35-40% abroad investments (it fluctuates), and the rest are obviously domestic. More than ever, the market is global, and one should consider this when making choices. By no means does my strategy work best for everyone, but it fits my preferences. I'd encourage you to read financial publications and literature, alot. Then consider speaking to an adviser (you can get some good basic advise). This way, you put yourself in a position of some element of strength, by having some basic to intermediate knowledge.

To this end, it can be very beneficial to research organizational investment strategies. For example, T Rowe has several fund managers with different goals and philosophies, but they generally seem to look for opportunities, and invest with a sense of balancing performance and risk that suit my tastes. They also have very reasonable overhead expenses with there funds.

Man I gotta learn to sum things up. I'm too long winded. I forgot the question. Sorry about that.

PS

As for the current market drop, and the beating my investments are taking, I feel like this

Now, shares are very inexpensive and I'm not looking to cash out for another 25 years or more. Woo hoo.

Kaminsky

The sooner people start investing again, the quicker we will get out of recession. The more people stay scared, the lower the price gets, the worse the recession becomes. [ the more it is in the news every damn minute, the more scared people get ]

That said, you would have to be doing it for the very long term and then be ready to bail when the time is right before the next recession hits. (some guy on the radio this moring said this happens in 7 year cycles pretty much.. I'm not knowledgable to agree or disagree)

But if you decide yes, what do you buy when major names are being whiped from the map along with any shares that were in them. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7644238.stm

jbaello

I can leave a good 10K right now, and possibly another 10 - 20K next year as soon I straight out some of my mess, I'll probably ask a financial advisor.

My 401K dropped and I lost 2,800.

astorrs

jbaello wrote:

My 401K dropped and I lost 2,800.

I know some guys whose 401K's are at around 50% of last year right now... they should have taken early retirement...

jbaello

I wonder if I should take out the little 401 K that I have, damn it everyone is affected with this subprime crap.

astorrs

jbaello wrote:

I wonder if I should take out the little 401 K that I have, damn it everyone is affected with this subprime crap.

No because you're really young you can afford to sit on it for years until it recovers and goes up again. It's people who are close to (planned) retirement who are getting screwed out of their 401k's right now.

Diminutive

I'd be conservative for a decade or so (thus speaks someone full invested in S&P 500) but looking at the looming Boomer retirement I'd imagine that the economy will continue slowing down rather than expand.

That being said, things look like a bargain right now, but I don't think the long term trends are good for the US.

jbaello

astorrs wrote:

jbaello wrote:

I wonder if I should take out the little 401 K that I have, damn it everyone is affected with this subprime crap.

No because you're really young you can afford to sit on it for years until it recovers and goes up again. It's people who are close to (planned) retirement who are getting screwed out of their 401k's right now.

I see I will max out my 401 K contribution if I get lucky on my prospect, do you think people who's 401 K tanked will be able to get them back?

astorrs

jbaello wrote:

I see I will max out my 401 K contribution if I get lucky on my prospect, do you think people who's 401 K tanked will be able to get them back?

Depends on how long they have until they want to cash them in.

jbaello

You can contribute on day 1 and it's fully vested if you leave you don't have to put in time to keep the 401 K.

Vogon Poet

Great time to buy.

blargoe

I was waiting for the downturn before I started investing more. I'm going to put a little in now.