Just Checked My Mutual Funds

[ClairefromClare]

And another--thought this was kind of cute.

NEW STOCK MARKET TERMS


CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry.
VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.
BROKER -- What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST -- Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.
FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW-- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
YAHOO -- What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now locked up in a nuthouse.
PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use.

[julie_m]

What's the difference between a Lehman Bro Executive and a pigeon?

A pigeon can still make a deposit on a Ferrari

[135792468]

A pigeon can still make a deposit on a new car. Anyway, I am keeping all of my money in an online savings account. I figure I will invest it in a mutual fund in a few years when the markets steady out.

[Release]

I wish I hadn't... I'm 25% in the negative since this whole BS started. Hooray. But, this is a long term retirement account, I didn't really expect to see any different from the events of the past few weeks. Just sucks!

You are the luck one if your investment is only down by 25%, most got hosed off by 40%-50%. You must be in a very conservative fund.

[Ben]

You are the luck one if your investment is only down by 25%, most got hosed off by 40%-50%. You must be in a very conservative fund.

Well, I did start this thread a week or so ago. I am deathly afraid of checking now.

[Lemay427]

40% loss in my funds. It has been pretty volatile though. Up and Down

[headz51230]

down 24% on the yr..

[Eore]

my dad works for a stock management company here in madison.........it hasn't been a very fun month for him. plus the weather sucks, so no golf.

i'm only 15, but am thinking about dropping a coupe grand that i have saved into a mutual fund or something. chances are slim of somethinghappening like it did to Mr. Gates, but who knows?

[Shindig]

i'm only 15, but am thinking about dropping a coupe grand that i have saved into a mutual fund or something. chances are slim of somethinghappening like it did to Mr. Gates, but who knows?

Well, Gates didn't get rich through mutual funds, best of my knowledge.

But I say it's a good idea. If you have a couple of grand that you don't need at the moment, you can put it away in some sort of mutual fund - your dad can probably give you better advice than I can. I will suggest you find a way for it to grow tax-free, if it isn't going to be used any time soon, such as a Roth IRA if this is starting a retirement fund But yeah, being 15, putting away $2000, if it grows at an average of 8% a year, that little money you don't care about now can be over $63,000 by the time you're 60. I'm ten years older than you and I'm socking away a great deal of cash *now*, while the market is down. Just make sure it isn't money you need, say, 3 years from now. That goes into a different type of investment. But your dad, I'm sure, knows this, so let him worry about it.

[Alexander]

Well, the guy who lost $4 million when Lehman Bros went kaput might disagree.

You might want to read about Bob Steel. He put $16m of his own money into Wachovia stock in July buying WB at around $16 a share. Ouch.

[Ben]

I wish I hadn't... I'm 25% in the negative since this whole BS started. Hooray. But, this is a long term retirement account, I didn't really expect to see any different from the events of the past few weeks. Just sucks!

Wow, its been two years since I posted this? Well, just check today and I'm less than 1% in the negative!

[Lefty-Golfer]

Wow, its been two years since I posted this? Well, just check today and I'm less than 1% in the negative!

Well you are doing better then me. i don't know the exact number but i am close to even in regular stocks / mutuals and ahead in the 401k. the reason being i didn't add any new money to the regular but max out the 401 and add extra with profit sharing so it actually jumped pretty good.

I had contemplated dumping quite a bit of cash into the market at the begining of the year but i didn't have the balls or faith to do it!! Damn i wish i had! i did manage to pick up several pieces of real estate from the short sale market and done very very well with them. all in all 2009 was poor and 2010 was way above average. depending on the real estate purchases it could a massive life changing year. will let you know in 5 to 10 years LOL

[BoilerGolfer'10]

Wow, its been two years since I posted this? Well, just check today and I'm less than 1% in the negative!

That's because the cyclical "often considered a rumor" nature of markets brings prosperous results to those with patience. Knowledge and confidence also breed a great investor, knowing that the markets get rocked when fear is elevated made millionaires out of people willing to put money into the market in the beginning of this year and March/April of 2009.

A large amount of stocks were brought down with the fear of systemic risk throughout the whole market. Some companies had great books and promising futures but were negatively impacted based on poor management decisions by rival companies. It is hard to know which company to invest in, but becomes more lear once you start doing research and figure out WHY a company lost 15% or WHY the company is growing at 5% a year for 10 years. Understanding what caused the event is much more beneficial than trying to react the news. Anyways thats my two cents on the topic. I recently graduated in May looking to pursue a career in finance ad enjoy helping to bring insight to others who may have questions about investing. A personal projection is that the december month will be good for the major indexes. Strong consumer numbers coupled with small job growth has a majority of investors concurring the current bull market will continue. Unfortunately the real estate market most likely has a few hard years in front of them, my thinking is roughly 3 years but everything can change overnight in these turbulent times.

[Ben]

I had contemplated dumping quite a bit of cash into the market at the begining of the year but i didn't have the balls or faith to do it!! Damn i wish i had!

In a nice coincidence last year I heard someone talking about how shares of Ford were going for $1. Within days I got an email from ING telling me I'll get $50 to open a Sharebuilder account. So I did, saw Ford at $2.66, and jumped on it. I bought a bunch of other stuff too. Not exactly "dumping a bit of cash" but merely a little bit and mostly stuck to penny stocks. My Sharebuilder account is rocking! Ford is up 486% and my biggest gainer (Boise Paper) is up 1034%. But like Boilergolfer suggests, the market is sure to go back down. Be sure not to be snoozin' that time!

[Ben]

I'm in the positive now! Thanks Morgan Stanley.

[GopherNut]

Just remember that after a 50% loss, you need a 100% positive gain just to get back to where you were before you lost any money.  I hate math sometimes!

[Splifton]

I can't wait to retire so I can play golf all day.....ah well only another 25 years to grind it out.......

[Ben]

Freakin Libya!