Does the economy and rising prices make you worry?

not a fear monger wrote:

Warren Buffett follower wrote:

Since many people are thinking like you, I have decided to put more and more of my cash into the market.

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful."

- Warren Buffett

This is exactly what I did when the media was going crazy about how bad the economy was a couple of months ago. Bought CSCO at 23.40. It's 26.72 right now!

My barometer is if people on letsrun post about the horrible economy I buy. If they are talking about stock picks, investing, markets etc. I sell.

Can't do that for everyone here, because I talk about stock picks in good and poor market times. You'd be even better off consistently putting money in the market and then a once in a great while big purchase when the market has dropped a lot. By the time people start talking about how bad the market is, it's usually too late to get in at the bottom. If you were in the whole time (buying twice a month), you benefited from the bottom of the market. People think they can guess when to get in and when to get out. They can't.

No. This lunatic makes me worry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REg9lpe44lI

"Do"

I'm more worried about the negative impacts of a largely illiterate populace that cannot communicate clearly and effectively via written English.

Serious question wrote:

I have been thinking a lot about our present economy and have to admit I am a bit worried about things. I am 35 with what I think is a stable job but that probably can change fairly quickly with the sagging economy.

It is troubling to see gas prices continuing to rise, the price of food sky rocketing, medical expenses flying through the roof and on and on. I guess what seems to be really scary is that the cost of groceries has risen some insane amount like 17% since last year.

How worried are you and will things stablize soon?

Here's another thing to add to the positives. April lost 20,000 jobs, but 75,000 were expected to be cut. That might sound bad, BUT the unemployment rate DROPPED from 5.1% to 5.0% when it was expected to RISE to 5.2%. How can there be job losses and yet the unemployment rate DROP? Because, as I said before, many people are simply retiring, OR they are retiring and finding part-time work. These people do NOT apply for unemployment benefits. So, look NOT at the jobs lost but at the unemployment rate. 5.0% unemployment is excellent.

Still, not all is super rosy. In some years employers had a hard time finding workers and would simply offer big salaries. That isn't the case right now, but it will be again, maybe as soon as 2 years from now -- that's why I said earlier that anyone who is a sophomore in college right now is sitting in the catbird seat.

Dude, really don't worry. There is better news every single day about the economy.

A couple months ago my investments were down 12% on the calendar year. I just checked again this morning -- now I'm down just 4.2%. As the market is forward looking, this is a good sign.

Flagpole wrote:

When times are bad, that's the BEST time to put money in the stock market. When times are good, it's still a good time to. Dollar cost averaging means you put money in like clockwork no matter what (until you are within 5 years of retirement; then you need to be more conservative.

This is the best answer. Stocks are on sale right now! Load up!

I'll just keep consistently investing in index funds, knowing that when the markets are down, I get to buy more shares.

I have friends who trade individual stocks and are always giving their hot stock tips. I just smile and nod. Even they will admit that at best, they break even on their active trading. I never have bought an individual stock and I never plan to. I'll just keep dollar-cost averaging into index funds while my friends fritter away their time and money looking for that next hot stock. That way I can fritter away my time running and reading letsrun!

That is why the budget deficit went from around 5.7 trillion to over 9 trillion while Bush was in office. Bush was really concerned about making sure the govt didn't hand out any money to people....

Bush has a major problem with never vetoing the spending bills that congress (Democrat controlled) lards up.

THAT'S the way to do it brother! Fools jump in and out of the market. It's awesome to know that you (and I) have been buying this whole time, even on the very cheapest dip in the market. THAT's how you make some serious money. People who try to time things end up not putting in as much as we do and they miss the pinnacle when selling and miss the dip when buying. Just fooling themselves to think they can time the market. Good job brother! More people should invest like that -- it's the only tried and true method, and we've heard that for years so it's not like it's a secret and yet too many think they know better. They don't.