ok, i'm ready to jump back into the market

Vanguard Funds are great...here is scoop...96 per cent of investment performance is diversification not stock pickingor timing

the market will self regulate as long as people invest. cant be afraid of losing. now is a great time to invest, but usually when there is instability in one economy ( or several)the market declines. always remember YOU DON'T LOSE MONEY UNTIL YOU SELL! I say jump back in and invest for the long haul. the market will always prevail in the end. also the DJIA is not a true indicator of the markets strength. its a very outdated measure. look at S&P

GLD... a gold based ETF. Goes up every single day...

You are in a unique situation. Take advantage of it.

Index Funds: The 12 step program for active investors

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976802309

The Random Walk Guide to Investing

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039332639X

The Bogleheads Guide to Investing

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471730335

Or let Warren Buffet manage your money. Note his performance in bear markets. The only regret Buffet has is that he broke is first rule of investing during the tech bubble "only invest in what you understand."

Last 15 months

Last 12 years

Last 18 years

Put some money into peer-to-peer lending. You can easily get 10-12%. More if you're good at picking.

http://www.prosper.com/

http://www.lendingstats.com/lenderBrackets

http://www.lendingstats.com/topLenders

http://www.lendingstats.com/listingOverview

malmo wrote:

The only regret Buffet has is that he broke is first rule of investing during the tech bubble "only invest in what you understand.

Did he invest in tech stocks? I always thought he stayed out of that and thus stuck with that rule.

malmo wrote:

Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett imo.

are you sure wrote:

Did he invest in tech stocks? I always thought he stayed out of that and thus stuck with that rule.

I may be wrong there. For some reason I remember a quote of his saying he did, but I can't find any evidence that my memory is in fact correct, or that he ever broke his rule.

dollars and cents wrote:

Warren Buffett imo.

Regardless. Buffett is as good with one t tied behind his back as with both t's.

Buffett was getting pounded by everyone during that time because he didn't invest in tech stocks. He was far underperforming the market. When asked about this, he said he didn't invest because he didn't understand the business (too new and technical for him). In actuality, he truly did understand it and knew that you shouldn't invest in companies that had virtually no assets. Their only assets were ideas that quickly became obsolete. We all know how that ended up.

You should absolutely take advice from letsrun on what to do with your 85 grand. That's good thinking.

ready to take the plunge wrote:

...about 85k cash to go back in with.

Split it up and invest it over the next 6 months. Two or 3 investments. Adjust the time frame and number of investments based on how the market, and the credit crunch evolve.

500 acres, lots of diesel, rice, chickens and a few cows.

regulator wrote:

always remember YOU DON'T LOSE MONEY UNTIL YOU SELL!

Not if you happen to own stock of a company that goes bankrupt. You never return from zero.

I am stunned I lost all my money since I was so well diversified. I invested in at least 10 different investment companies.

Some of what I will say has been said already, but here goes:

Yes get in, and STAY in. You shouldn't have left. Likely not only did you take money out of the market when it was at 12,000 (did you buy in ABOVE that level?), but you also have not been buying all along. If you hadn't been in the market very long, you probably took a loss by selling at 12,000. Even though the DOW is now at 9,200, you haven't really gained anything. The money you lost by taking it out and the money you will not have gained by putting it in between 12,000 and now have put you negative. My shares are down from the beginning of the year, but I haven't sold anything and in fact not only have I continued to buy, but I did one extra semi-large purchase. This bad time for the market is when you buy brother.

You CANNOT time the market. Warren Buffett cannot time the market. Put the money in and leave it there -- these should be RETIREMENT accounts. Once you are debt free (THAT MEANS EVERYTHING INCLUDING A HOUSE) and you are doing 15% or more toward retirement, if you want to dabble in non-retirement funds, then go ahead. I'm actually breaking that rule as I have retirement and non-retirement funds and contribute to both yet I still have a mortgage, but I LOVE the market so much I can't bring myself to not invest heavily in it, and my mortgage is very manageable (less than 25% of my takehome pay). If the market gets running high again, I may pare back my non-retirement mutual fund giving and attack the house. You can really do either, but the point is that initially you should be putting money away for retirement only and not non-retirement funds until all that other stuff is fully funded. With $85,000 to invest though, you probably should do SOME non-retirement funds. I would fully fund a 401k for the year ($15,500) and then fully fund a Roth IRA for the year ($5,000) and then put 3 months of expenses in a liquid account like a Money Market Account (6 months if you're married with kids) and then put the rest into a non-retirement mutual fund.

Vanguard is great. Low fees, and you never hear about them being criminal as you sometimes do with other firms. My IRA is with Vanguard. I'm down on the year, but so is everyone. You cannot go wrong by choosing funds with them.

Good luck brother. Diversify! Jim Cramer says NEVER put more than 20% into any one sector. Dave Ramsey suggests a 25% split into the following types of funds -- Growth, Aggressive Growth, Growth and Income, and International. Warren Buffett suggests Index Funds. It is really tough to go wrong with Index funds, but ultimately if you are well diversified, you'll likely do fine. Don't wait. This market COULD turn around any day, or it could drop to 7,000. You just don't know. Then, stop with trying to time things. put the money in and keep it there until you are within 5 years of retirement -- then find other ways to invest more conservatively.

lincolnsnuts wrote:

500 acres, lots of diesel, rice, chickens and a few cows.

You forgot rifles and ammo. :D

You need to put your money in a CD. You have no business investing. You may have "timed" the market this go around, but the market is irrational. I GUARANTEE it will go up and down in the next 50 yrs. If you couldn't handle it once you probably can't handle it again as we will see drops potentially greater than this in the next 20 yrs.

My advice put it into something you won't worry about and stay away from the market.

Diversify, diversify, diversify:

large cap growth

large cap value

small cap growth

small cap value

reif

large cap international growth

large cap international value

small cap international growth

small cap international value

emerging markets

You can do that with 10 low-fee Vanguard funds

Add some bond funds to further diversify, but if long-term, put 80-90 per cent in equity funds

Things you have to consider:

What is your risk tolerance.

How much or what kind of service do you want.

How long do you plan to hold the investment.

Seeing that you might panic on a downturn, I wonder how risk sensitive you are.

As others have said, index funds are the best way to go for most people. You will have lower costs and you will be more tax efficient.

I'd dollar cost average into market into a mix of a total market index, Vanguard international fund, TIPS inside your tax deferred acount, Vanguard GNMA fund. The percentage holdings of each of these different funds would depend on how much risk you are willing to take and how long you plan to hold the funds.

Shipping