goalposts

Equities Get a Kick in the Pants

"From the biggest picture sense we know the S&P 500 will make a new high again. Obviously we do not know when, but it will happen. That will happen regardless of whether the S&P 500 goes down to 800 (or any other number) or not."

This is a stunning statement to make. We absolutely do not know that. The mentality that the U.S. market will always, sooner or later, come back and make new highs, is what got a lot people to hold on to their 'nasdaq 5000' purchases and who are still, 10 years later, sitting at an over 50% loss. Long term buy and hold in the market of a country 12 trillion dollars in debt is too risky for me.

If one really believes the market will always make new highs, why bother to make defensive moves?

What is the Value in a Non-Equity Portfolio?

Excellent article, Roger. I think an equity-less portfolio now and perhaps some foreign equities later makes a lot of sense; but you are a lot more optimistic about the US market than I am. If stocks can go down and stay down for 20 years in Japan, why can't that (or worse) happen here? I think the popular perception that the US is indestructable is fading.

Why Investors Should Avoid TIP

this is an excellent article - basic stuff everyone needs to know...

Tuesday Outlook: Commodities, Global Markets

OK, I'm guessing colonoscopy. Tell your gastro guy to lay off the demerol and get you a licensed anesthesiologist...and don't lift anything heavy for a while.

Seems somehow symbolic for someone to have a colonoscopy during a bear market...

Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets

I hope you have XP and not Vista. If you have an ATI video card, make sure you have the latest driver, but I'm sure my friends at Dell support told you that, if you could understand them. And be very suspicious of McAfee!

Making and Protecting Money in a Bear Market

Roger, you and gretsch seem to think this is just another v-bottomed bear market - at some point a buying opportunity, just a matter of time till the market is back, higher than ever. So just lighten up your portfolio a litte bit so when the market inevitably goes back up, you'll recover your losses quickly and then it's onward and upward to bigger and better things! Or... could this be like the NASDAQ, only 50% of what it was 8 years ago, not to mention the NIKKEI 20 years after it's peak. There's no rule that says a market has to ever recover. Maybe this is not a good time to be a long-term buy-and-hold investor; anyone old enough to have any money may not have enough time left to ride this out...

Friday Outlook: T.G.I.F.

Gabe, you're an idiot. smart people usually have a different opinon than the masses, but having a different opinion doesn't make you smart...

Bond ETFs: Are Treasury Bonds Entering a Downtrend?

What about the TBT?

Where Morningstar Goes Wrong on ETFs

Couldn't agree more. Someone needed to out M-star for their arrogance. Their refusal to be critical of massively-front-end-lo... mutual funds is enough to turn me off to them. I'm not sure if I even trust them as a data provider. But maybe they're just long term investors, and believe that, given enough time, everything regresses to the mean...

Morningstar Doesn't Get What ETF Investing Is All About

Glad to see you write this article, Matthew; someone has been needing to say this about Morningstar. They are buried in an old, traditional style of investing and don't take well to new ideas.

Volatility of Broad-Based ETFs

i also agree with Roger. but if i were to construct a portfolio of the SPY and EFA, it wouldn't be 80% spy, 20% efa; more likely the other way around...no way i'd have 80% of my money in the USA, for the short term OR long term.