Investors Continue to Be Their Own Worst Enemy
Over long periods of time, the stock market as a whole has <a href="http://www.newerahatstock.com/"><strong>new era mlb</strong></a> proven remarkably rational. �But in the short-term, the stock market can be highly erratic. �You should never invest money in common stocks if there is any chance you might need the funds within the next five years. �This was so important that I once wrote an article called�Best Places to Invest Down Payment Money. �That is why I am baffled to read pieces such as this, from an article called Homebuyers Spooked by Stock Volatility, published by Bloomberg: "A lot of people have seen their down payments for a home disappear in the stock market," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH Associates, a loan-data firm in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. "It served as a reinforcement to the hunker-down mentality that a lot of homebuyers already had." Have investors forgotten that stock exchanges can close for weeks, perhaps even months, as has been in the case throughout history? �In such an event, you would have little or no opportunity to sell your shares of businesses in which you had an investment. �Stocks are not appropriate for the short-term. �They never have been. They never will be. �It's the nature of the game. �Real estate down payments or other liquidity needs should be held in cash and cash equivalents with virtually no risk, that can be accessed easily, and spread around in a way that won't hurt you if a financial institution fails. The story also includes this baffling passage: Sanjay Jain called his real estate broker four days ago to cancel a deal to buy a three-bedroom home in Folsom, California,�unnerved by another plunge in the most volatile equities market on record. "Seeing what's happening on the stock market made me think that it's not a good time to be buying a home," Jain said. <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/lacoste-hat-c-9.html"><strong>lacoste hat</strong></a> "I'm going to wait and see." Why would the stock market have any relationship whatsoever to whether or not you purchased a home? �A home should be measured by the utility it provides to you and your family, the financial cost (both real and opportunity) of investing in the property, and the strain on your liquidity should you lose your job or be unable to work. �Your long-term investments should play virtually no role in whether or not is a good or bad time to buy a home. This kind of folly is precisely why you see certain people lose everything by retirement. �They just can't help their irrationality and fear. �Patient, long-term investors, meanwhile, take advantage of the opportunity and retire in comfort, just like the 1 out of 3 homeowners who have no mortgage on their home and the 23.8% of Americans households that have no credit �card debt at all along with the 31.2% of American households that use credit cards but have their balance totally and completely paid off every month. Yet, the financial press is going to continue to roll out stories like this because it sells. �Most people are more level headed. �Focus on utility. �What is going to provide the best value for your family? �Whatever it is, and it is going to be different for all of us based upon our own needs, preferences, and financial resources, <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/dc-hat-c-12.html"><strong>dc hats</strong></a> consider doing it. �Financial success is very, very simple if you can avoid losing your mind when your neighbor is panicking. Financial fear only occurs in those who don't know what they are doing. �In that situation, you are your own worst enemy; not Wall Street, not bankers, not Congress. �You.
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