Inching back in
 

I am looking forward to this too - I have been inching my money back into the market, but into funds rather than individuals (my 401K). My plan is to get back up to about 30% equities - am currently at 11%. I figure that I cannot do worse than the financial planner we hired the past couple of years and got rid of end of last year. I decided to do the dollar cost averaging every 3-4 weeks no matter where the market is at - I keep hearing by the end of the year the economy should be showing improvement. The market moves about 6 months ahead of the economy doesn't it? But what do I know- we stayed in way longer than we should have the last time around.

Hi Conn,

I have decided to do a little inching myself. But I will continue to guard the nest egg like a mother hen. I figure nobody wants to give us decent jobs anymore.

I do feel like some good companies are getting really beat up. If I can figure out what's what with all that, my plan is to buy with the hope of selling at a profit at some point. But any profit there will be used to build a moat around that nest egg I keep guarding. I use taxable income to stay out of the tax deferred accounts as long as possible.

I will do individual stocks for now, but I would like to look at ETF's maybe. I have never owned an ETF.

But about that taxable income, I have great concern over what will happen with taxes when the capital gains at 15% expires at the end of 2010. If the market has recovered by then, it seems like raising cap gains tax would give the market another goodbye kiss. Or just kiss it off completely. If investors see a tax increase coming, I would think that profit taking could happen a lot in 2010 if it is there to take. Of course, I recognize that it is not us little people who move the markets, but still the effect is there. And I wonder if inflation will make CD rates higher. (But please keep in mind, anybody reading this, that I have no background at all in finance and I am just thinking out loud here. That's it.)

I will remain with my personal, boring investment policy of not buying anything I do not understand and always testing any investment against the cost of sleep. And I will stay with my financial adviser -- Me. (Disclaimer here: I am not a financial adviser as a profession. I am just an independent cuss who has never been able to turn those money decisions over.)

I really think all bets are pretty much off because we have nothing to compare this to. No matter what they say.

What a corrupt mess it all is. AIG to me seems to fit the second or third dictionary definition of treason. But they will get by with it and laugh all the way to the bank. (offshore, no doubt)

And , of course, there is more than one Madoff out there. Technology has made that kind of thing easier than ever. I heard the other day about a couple of Baby-Madoffs with a fake website and all kinds of stuff. And can you believe the name 'Madoff'? It sounds like it should be in an allegory. If an author named a character like Madoff Madoff, in a work of fiction, I bet the editor would make the author change the name, unless it was an allegory or a satire.

What a world, huh.

I read just yesterday about something called a reverse split that happens when a company wants to make its stock look more valuable. Geez. Maybe everybody else has heard about that, but I had not. The psychology of the market is really something to behold.

So anyway, good luck in the inching process. I will be there, too.

Boomer

Good article in Newsweek today. I would send you the link but I sent it to my son and he told me it won't open. But if you go to Newsweek.com, and click on the Tech/Business tab, there is an interesting article there "Feeling Bullish? Ten Stocks That Could Double" There are no real surprises there, but it's a good reminder that you can generally find value in good, solid names that have had recent major stock price hits. Two weeks ago I was thinking about jumping on GE at between $7-8, and just looked and it's trading for $10.14 right now. He who hesitates . . . .

Boomer,
Here's a list of the ETF's. Be sure you understand how they work.
Bob

http://finance.yahoo.com/etf

When I was playing in the market I always paid attention to what Analysts were doing and saying about certain companies I had investments with. GE on Friday took a hit because of the GE Capital Services. GE made a presentation to Analysts who now fear that 2010 could be worse than 2009 for the finance group. Here is the link: http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowat...SWB-2545.html?