Posted on 09/08/2010 12:07:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Seeing all the money that goes into SS goes out the same year. I think that means my return is -100%, maybe more if I count the employer side.
Because, unless your stuff is counterfeit, it's the only stuff not based on lies.
“Look, if a major index is down 10% and your fund is down 5%, it gives no comfort to know that you’re losing less money than that index.”
I haven’t “LOST” a thing if (a)I am still holding what I bought long ago, and not selling it today, and (b) by the time I need to sell it - 5,10,15,20,25,30 years later, its value - over what I originally paid - has still grown, grown well enough.
Paper losses are NOT realized losses anymore than are paper gains. When people look at some stock they own and say to themselves they have “gained” or “lost” something, then they should not be doing their own investing because ACTUAL gain or loss ONLY occurs when an asset is SOLD; which for most long-term investments WILL NOT BE at “today’s” market value, at least not “today’s” value every day they look at it.
RE: I need to sell it - 5,10,15,20,25,30 years later, its value - over what I originally paid - has still grown, grown well enough.
There is one HUGE assumption underlying all these, and I hope to God you are right for all our sakes.
And here is the assumption -— the stock market WILL continue to grow the way it has in the past for the long term.
10 years have passed already and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 have not returned to their former values (even pre-2000 high levels ).
Take Japan for instance. In 1989, the Nikkei was at an all time high of 39,000 and nothing the Japanese could do could go wrong.
Well,well,well... it’s been 21 years since the Nikkei fell and still the Nikkei has not even returned to HALF what it was 21 years ago.
Let’s say you were in your thirties in 1989, and invested your money and continued putting it in a mutual fund that mimicked the Nikkei or picked companies within the Nikkei. It’s now 2010 and you’re ready to retire in a few years...
your holding your stocks or mutual fund for 10 or even 20 years did NOTHING for you.
So, your argument assumes that the US markets will not mimic Japan’s from hereon. Let’s hope you’re right.
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