CloroxCowboy

Bogle: Investors 'Getting Killed' in ETFs

Your opinion only. Some people do quite well trading, you're just not one of them. Certainly the average joe "investor" has no business trading anything.


On Jun 18 06:33 PM ETF Grind wrote:

> We already know that trading is a statistically losing proposition,
> no matter what vehicle you use.

Is Buying Bonds Really a Good Idea?

Felix,

I'm confused as to what your exact position is with this article. Granted, Brett Arends' #4 explanation is a terrible justification for investing in equities, but that doesn't mean investing in equities is a terrible idea right now...he's just providing the wrong reason to do so. Since it appears you're advocating a cash position (I had to re-read that part to make sure I wasn't missing some hidden sarcasm), when exactly should investors jump back in, when prices are high again? Long-term portfolios should be buying now, on the way down, not waiting for "safety".

This is just the flipside to the arguments I saw back in Nov '07 from all the "long-terms", the ones that were deriding those of us who clearly saw the writing on the wall and preserved our profits above 13000. We were called spineless or speculators back then, and now we are being lumped in with Mr. Arends who seems to have slept through a few basic investing courses. Buy low (that's NOW).

Some Advice from Warren Buffet for Difficult Times

I agree with half of Buffet's mantra above - using fear and greed sentiments to help timing. As Jim points out though, holding forever is probably not the best strategy if you consider that the past 50 years could have simply been an inflationary period in the macro time-scale. I don't expect markets to reverse to 1950's prices, but I do expect them to flatten out considerably. The rest of the world has closed the gap on the US since WWII and we no longer have many of the market advantages that once existed.

With that said, my personal strategy is to buy cautiously and incrementally on downturns such as these. But instead of holding forever, I get really crazy and actually take a profit when prices go up again. People love to say that they got in on a certain company before everyone else, but how many of those people get out at the right time to turn a paper profit into a real one?