OT: Stock Market Watch, October, '15

[Jeff N.]

Worst day I've seen in a long time, supposedly driven by the problems in Greece. Took a big-azzed bite out of my IRA. Man, I'll never be able to figure this stuff out... Jeff N.

[R3awak3n]

same, lost a bunch of money this past week.

[joosttx]

Stay local, yo

[Cicli]

My stratigy is to spend all my money on bike crap. Sure fire loss of value.

[shovelhd]

You only lose when you sell.

[Louis]

I think all you guys crying "the sky is falling" are getting a bit greedy:

[zmudshark]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

You only lose when you sell.

Yep, which is why, at my age, I only buy dividend stocks. The kids can worry about capital gains.

[MattTuck]

yeah, over the past year, I've made a handful of downside bets using puts, only to see the positions expire worthless. I've been allocated to cash and bonds. Almost 0% allocated to equity.

I've been following what's going on in Europe/Greece and China and almost made a big play about two weeks ago with puts on both those markets... but I've been wrong so many times in the last 12 months that I second guessed myself and decided not to.

oh well. sometimes it is about sticking to your guns if you believe your investment thesis.

live and learn.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

You only lose when you sell.

This is correct. I love how people gnash their teeth when there's a market correction like today. But if it goes up 2% over a day nobody says that they earned a ton.

I'm a buy and hold investor at this point in my life and am reinvesting dividends. I have no intention of selling anything for quite a while, if ever, though I do plan to live off dividend income in retirement.

I hope the market is still down when my company makes my 401(k) deposit. I'll be buying more shares.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

yeah, over the past year, I've made a handful of downside bets using puts, only to see the positions expire worthless. I've been allocated to cash and bonds. Almost 0% allocated to equity.

Matt, I'm shocked, shocked, that you've been gambling on the market.

You of all people, should believe that the market is somewhat efficient.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

yeah, over the past year, I've made a handful of downside bets using puts, only to see the positions expire worthless. I've been allocated to cash and bonds. Almost 0% allocated to equity.

I've been following what's going on in Europe/Greece and China and almost made a big play about two weeks ago with puts on both those markets... but I've been wrong so many times in the last 12 months that I second guessed myself and decided not to.

oh well. sometimes it is about sticking to your guns if you believe your investment thesis.

live and learn.

I don't really understand how to time options. Any number of times I've been tempted to short stocks only to see the shorts get hammered many times before they were eventually proven to be right. So I just stay away. My broker hates me because I have so much cash, and they dont want to have to deal with cash. But I just can't buy right now. Got to start working on that sometime.

[jimoots]

Stock market is run by computers and algorithms rather than genuine insights, could see this one coming a mile off.

[54ny77]

Can you predict if Campy will come out with an all alloy Super Record group?

That's what matters.

Originally Posted by jimmy-moots

Stock market is run by computers and algorithms rather than genuine insights, could see this one coming a mile off.

[fuzzalow]

It will be a choppy week in the financial markets with either a tapering off or a tsunami depending on the results of the Greek voters referendum this Sunday July 5. It will determine whether Greeks agree to continue to abide by the austerity and terms imposed by the rest of the EU and the European Central Bank.

I hope the Greeks vote Yes which will keep them in the EU but I fear they will not see past their own suffering and vote No which might effectively start a process of Greece's exit from the EU. Lots of potentially bad geopolitical consequences if that happens.

This volatility hasn't much to do with direct US holdings other than the global money-center financial institutions. But they get rocked and everyone else has to go along for the ride.

[Louis]

So when's austerity going to start to work for them? Hasn't so far, and it's been what, five years since they started on that bitter medicine?