I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

If at the end of your investment you can walk away with at least what you put into it, then you haven't lost anything....

Same thing with a house.....If you walk away with at least what you paid for it, then you are ahead..all of the mortgage payments you made were like rent.....

People really need to understand that NOTHING is guaranteed when you are investing!

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

what are you referring to? what are people saying?

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

Referring that they lost all of their life savings in the stock market or in 401ks.

You should only count what YOU put in!

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

they didn't lose anything as long as they don't sell it.

the market will rebound

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

People need to realize a few things - right now your loss is on PAPER. Give it time, it will rebound! But if you cash out now, you just turned an unrealized loss into a realized one. Big mistake!

Also - people close to retirement age should not have their portfolio heavily weighed towards stocks!! The closer you are to retirement to less aggressive you should be! People often forget to go back and change their allocations as they age.

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

people that sold for a loss out of panic are going to be even more mad then they were when they sold

they were saying on MSNBC that people tend to buy when the market is doing well- and then sell when the market dips- so they might as well not invest if they are going to do that

Re: I am watching the news and I really don't think that people understand investments...

i found this whole topic to be helpful to me. We have our IRA in stocks.....I know very little when it comes to the stock market but I have an advisor who I trust completely. I called him on Wednesday asking him if we should sell. Of course, he said, "Dont painic, let me lose sleep, that is my job."

But reading this post kinda helped me put it all into perspective.

Also, last night, coming home from work, I was listening to NPR radio and they were interviewing a professor from Duke, I believe. He said that panic and fear are a big part of the stock markets problem. he also pointed out that this was a bad week because people were getting their quarterly statements. And that was my problem our statement came I inadvertently opened it ( I was not going to) and it freaked me out. Thus the panicky phone call the next morning.