I'm no financial expert, but it sure sounds to me like you mostly just had bad timing.
If you look at how the market as a whole has been doing, there was a definite bubble, especially from late 1999 to early 2000 (and especially the tech sector), then a decline until around 2003, only making it back up to early-to-mid-1999 levels around 2005 or 2006 . Over the course of this year, everything's been on a downward course, then around late September, everything outright plummeted.
Now is a great time to be buying stocks, but a terrible time to be selling them. In other words: probably a good idea to hold onto the stocks you have.
I know spreading your purchases over time is a commonly recommended investment strategy, but I think that makes the most sense when you're investing something out of a steady income.
Here's a chart of several major stock indexes Or another(yes, I picked a few US indexes and one japanese one, but I'm pretty sure you'll see a similar picture if you add in european indexes
( ... )
That's a hard lesson to learn, especially with family money like that. Sadly, I do not recall any book or person (financial expert) I consulted ever recommending NOT investing everything all at once, but spreading it out, mimicking a steady income.
Now looking back on it, I probably should have left some of the bulk sum alone, or put it into CDs, use the rest of it to invest small bits on a monthly basis (spread over time), and do the same thing with the steady income of Social Security checks.
*sigh*
You're right that now is a great time to buy, and I'm trying to figure out a way to start spending a steady stream of money into funds. But it took me this long to work up the courage to even approach investing again.
Comments 2
If you look at how the market as a whole has been doing, there was a definite bubble, especially from late 1999 to early 2000 (and especially the tech sector), then a decline until around 2003, only making it back up to early-to-mid-1999 levels around 2005 or 2006 . Over the course of this year, everything's been on a downward course, then around late September, everything outright plummeted.
Now is a great time to be buying stocks, but a terrible time to be selling them. In other words: probably a good idea to hold onto the stocks you have.
I know spreading your purchases over time is a commonly recommended investment strategy, but I think that makes the most sense when you're investing something out of a steady income.
Here's a chart of several major stock indexes Or another(yes, I picked a few US indexes and one japanese one, but I'm pretty sure you'll see a similar picture if you add in european indexes ( ... )
Reply
Now looking back on it, I probably should have left some of the bulk sum alone, or put it into CDs, use the rest of it to invest small bits on a monthly basis (spread over time), and do the same thing with the steady income of Social Security checks.
*sigh*
You're right that now is a great time to buy, and I'm trying to figure out a way to start spending a steady stream of money into funds. But it took me this long to work up the courage to even approach investing again.
Reply
Leave a comment