The air in the DOW is gone. I'm buying in (modestly)...

[Junkdrawer]

I have a great broker and I'll let him pick the stocks. I fully expect the market may go a bit lower and I don't expect to see it bounce back for 6 months or more. This is a long term play based on "even with dividends, I can't lose".

We'll see if I'm right.

[succubus.blues]

1. good luck.

I am going for the under the mattress option. ;)

[Jack from Charlotte]

35. As we used to say on Wall Street.........

"Never try and catch a falling knife."

The knife is still falling....

Yet, I hope you're right and hope we hit some bottoms, soon.

[grannie4peace]

2. my prayers are with you--brave soul!!!!

[gopbuster]

3. Ease yourself in n/t

[FreakinDJ]

4. Your name implies what your stocks will be worth

Sorry - couldn't resist

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. The market dropped a 100 on this news alone.

:D

[leftist.]

9. I lol'd, thanks!

I'm buying more today as well, though I thought 9,500 was close to the bottom and bought there and I've lost about 2.5 points total on average.

[Junkdrawer]

20. Wow. My little ole $8,000 did that? Market must REALLY be desperate....

:evilgrin:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. Only an 8K injection?

There goes another hunny.

[slackmaster]

27. The DJIA is down only 66 points for the day at the moment

After being down more than 1,000 earlier. More changes coming. Stay tuned.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

33. Then Chimp spoke and it dropped to -250.

No change at all.

[slackmaster]

34. The sooner he is out of there the better for everyone

More and more people agree every day.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

43. Down 400+

Still some air.

[lapfog_1]

6. Household items...

People won't stop buying basics, like toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Those companies would be good buys in an oversold market. Potentially drug companies as well.

The question is... is it "oversold" yet? Good luck.

[Junkdrawer]

12. He's on the market desk now and I'm waiting for his call. My instructions will be...

"Blue chip, reliable dividend stocks."

When you can get 4% - 6% dividend money for blue chips, I think you're near the bottom.

[lapfog_1]

19. GM used to be "blue chip"

but I wouldn't be buying it.

What are the reliable dividend stocks in a Depression?

[CatBO]

7. I'd go with some mutual funds, but that's just me...

I got burned picking individual stocks in the 2000 downturn.

I am not going in with fresh money, but my 401k contributions are maxed out so every 2 weeks I'm buying in my 401k. I'm getting a lot more shares for my money right now, which is both good -and- bad.

I'm 38% down, before yesterday's close. I have 20 years before I plan to retire, so I'm just holding steady with my game plan.

[progressive_realist]

24. Sadly, I am a student right now and have to sit this one out.

But my friends are following the same strategy as you: maxing out their 401(k) contributions and putting it into primarily blue-chip and medium-cap mutual funds.

If the markets haven't recovered within twenty years, we're going to have a lot more serious problems than paying for retirement.

[RB TexLa]

8. Good time to buy. You can never predict the bottom but it's not hard to know that right now you are

buying low. Good luck.

[leftchick]

10. could you PM me with your picks?

I am feeling lucky today! :)

[Junkdrawer]

17. See post #12...It may be this afternoon before I get his call...

This is a long term play...

[Junkdrawer]

36. Sent....

;)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

38. Mind Shootin Off Another One?

:)

[TornadoTN]

40. Same here - think you could PM them to me?

I wouldn't mind comparing notes! :)

[leftchick]

52. thank you!

:)

[crispini]

64. I'd be interested in knowing as well.

I'm always looking for bargains. :)

[DemNoir]

11. yeah right

This is a never before seen set of circumstances. So anybody that is predicting with confidence is either a fool or a crook.

[Junkdrawer]

15. Not predicting shit. I just see P/E ratios that are sane for a change....

I'm not betting the kids college fund - I moved that to Treasuries. My IRA is in Money Markets and I'm moving a modest chunk to Blue Chips.

[gopbuster]

25. Wish I was trading again...Damn straight I'd be at least easing in. n/t

[scisyhp1]

29. Except that those Es are pre-depression and are likely soon to

go down substantially, maybe even into the negative.
It is plain stupid to buy now something that could
be had for half the price in 6 months. Just saying.

[Junkdrawer]

32. Hence the need to let a pro pick the stocks....

The guy I use is REAL good...

[doc03]

47. Do you remember the experiment they did

on one of the news magazine shows 20/20?, they had a chimp pick stocks and he beat a professional money manager?

[doc03]

49. I got caught in the downdraft so I really don't have much

choice but ride it out and I will keep putting my 10% in the market and buy while it's cheap. I am in a mutual fund that is runs about 40-50% equities and 50-60% fixed income.

[Junkdrawer]

50. Lack of direct control is one of the reasons I'm in an IRA and not a 401K...

My broker, BTW, is a VERY hard working guy who really, really researches every pick.

Back during the Clinton era, when I was in the market, he made me a lot of money. (He's does the investing for one of the founders of Silicon Valley.)

He normally wouldn't handle a small account like mine, but it was a favor for a mutual friend.

[Barack_America]

13. If I had money, I'd buy into GM right now.

$4.75 a share.

GM can't fail.

[NeedleCast]

46. Hehe, that's what I said at 10/share when I bought GM earlier this year

and yet, I'm VERY tempted to buy more a 4 to 5 a share.

[progressive_realist]

14. I predict a market bottom about 20% below today's open.

Which will be probably be reached by the end of next week. So now is a good time for long-term investors to start buying. Although index funds seem like a much safer bet, since any individual company is at risk of failing in the next weeks -- it has nothing to do with fundamentals at this point.


Disclaimer: I'm just an anonymous poster on the internets whose opinion isn't worth anything.

[izquierdista]

16. Bottom pickers

have shitty fingers.

[melm00se]

18. good move

and I am following as well...I'd much rather buy into an investment a $10 per share than $15 per share.

to answer the lurkers: Is there risk? yes, there is risk in all things but at this point I *think* that we are either at or approaching the bottom and we will start a (slow) climb upward. The long term will depend upon what President Obama will do when he takes office.

[KittyWampus]

22. metals, lumber, coal

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. Coal in particular.

X-mas is coming!

[TornadoTN]

37. Coal is a *very* smart buy right now

The sell-off has pretty much hit its floor. There's some positive signs that things are turning in that segment.

Overall though, the bottom is probably a ways off.

[slackmaster]

26. I'll be buying in today as well

Today is pay day at IniTech. 18% of my pre-tax earnings will purchase a mix of stock funds in my 401k.

Staying the course with dollar-cost averaging over the long haul is hard when things are so chaotic, but I still have the stomach for it. Some day I will be able to look back and say I bought in at the bottom. It may not be today, it may not happen for a year or more, but it will happen.

[AndyTiedye]

28. Just Picked up Some Costco at 52.23

[Junkdrawer]

30. Good luck. $0.61 dividends on a $52 stock is, what, 1.1% ROI...

You're still betting a bit on growth. But a big lot bargain store may be just the kind of thing that grows in bad economic times...

[taddles]

31. You are right.

The market will most likely jump around and probably drop a bit more before it starts to level out then it will gain in the long run. Over time, the market always goes up. Just be prepared to wait for a couple years.

[TornadoTN]

39. I made my buys just after lunch - modest, but confident

Like you say, this is a long-term play. I'm of the opinion that the floor hasn't been found yet in the scope of the overall market, but there are some bargains out there in long-term, sustainable sectors.

Of course, I don't trust brokers and do the purchases myself after a lot of research. I injected $5,000 into the market today but over the next few months, it will probably go down or at best, roller-coaster. But long-term I'm confident that it will be a smart play to look back on.

[MadHound]

41. Look into some alternative energy mutual funds or stocks

I've got a decent portion of my portfolio tied into those, and so far I've lost only five hundred dollars on a ten thousand dollar investment, better performance than most others are doing at this point. Good luck.

[ThomWV]

42. I think you are doing a wise thing. My son and I are on the brink

My son and I invest together, we bought at the first of the month and are getting ready to do it again.

[Junkdrawer]

44. Crossing fingers....Just FYI: I sold my portfolio in Jan. 2001 when W came in...

My reason: Too much air in the market and a prick with a needle... :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. Been having the same thought myself

good P\E ratio, seat on it for a decade or two

[whistler162]

48. I placed a order through sharebuilder that will execute

on Tuesday for some more shares in Corning Glass(GLW). Small dividend but at a good price right now.

Wish I had more to invest.

[MyNameGoesHere]

51. There's gold in them hills!!

Prospectors. Has everyone in the world forgot that there are other ways to invest money? The stock market is for the most part a fake entity representing fake money. When will people learn, slow and steady wins the race.

[DeschutesRiver]

53. My dh and I have a bet going, and he has already lost part of his

bet. The bet was made just a bit ago, when the DOW was still over 10,000. He said the Dow wouldn't go under 8000. Whoops, even a brief dip counts...

I said I figured it wlll go at least to 6200 (lower wouldn't surprise me, of course, but say never below 3500). I thought it might take a few months; I think now it might just be a few weeks.

So I won't be back to buying stocks until things are far more clear. But wish you luck - I've done what you are doing over the years, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't (ie, market timing a bottom, during a "catch a falling knife" scenerio).

[Junkdrawer]

54. I bought one stock today...

It's been paying dividends since 1902...increasing dividends for the last 30+ years...

At the price I paid, it returns 4.5% a year in dividends alone.

This was a nice, conservative (in the old school use of the word) LONG TERM play.

[DeschutesRiver]

55. I do like long term plays, for sure

just haven't seen any safe entry point yet!

Given what is going on, I just can't go there right now - whatever I knew about how the markets worked (or didn't), and what the rules were, is being turned upside down. At least for the short term, until this bad situation gets resolved, I am assessing risk in a pretty tight way, and just seeking return of, rather than return on capital. But I am not terribly far out from retirement, so I gotta keep my head on straight about how many more years past retirement I'd have to work if my stock picks didn't pan out due to some bizarre circumstances beyond my ability to imagine at the moment.

There are things going on right here in the USA that I've only previously read about in other countries, except for some of the FDR style moves. And I don't even disagree with most of them, because what I see happening financially is horrific, beyond anything I thought I would ever see. So the key for me is to remember that whatever I thought I knew, might not be how things remain, at least short term. And even long term plays have to take into account drastic short term measures.

But I am starting a short list of possible stocks to buy, as is dh.

[Junkdrawer]

57. I think Hedge Funds are being forced to dump stocks...

See:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4206087&mesg_id=4206087

If that's true, some high quality stocks are going to take a big, undeserved, hit.

I think there's big bargains out there, but don't go by the performance of the past few weeks, if you see what I mean...

[DeschutesRiver]

60. Thanks for the link - I'd been watching the massive hedge fund redemptions

part of that is wealthy investors and wealthy institutional investors wanting to get the heck out of these funds before they implode. I am reading an older New Yorker article on hedge funds, how they make their big bucks, and who invests in them, and more importantly just how massive their fees are for those who invest. Hedge funds are totally unregulated and have taken leverage and risk to new levels in these last few years.

I am thinking that it is more of a trust issue that is causing the hedge fund investors to flee in these numbers. Some hedge funds had already frozen certain acounts; there were apparently some funds that gave partial redemptions, and told the investors it would be two years before they would get the rest back. Panicked some people, for sure, with that.

So whatever the reason why, there are stocks that may be dumped undeservedly, agree there. But we have a situation where some of the wealthiest investors don't trust their buckoo buck making hedge funds. Where banks aren't trusting other banks to the point that credit has frozen. Where I see local businesses, as well as national businesses with reputations and names I had trusted for years going bankrupt overnight. Who is next and how do I avoid investing in a company that may not be doing as well as I think they are, due to the limited information I am able to gather?

Since there is no meaningful transparency about who is solvent and who is not, how can I look at any company right now and really know for sure it will be around tomorrow? That it is solvent and capable of making it through these extraordinarily difficult times?

I have to know that a company whose stock I buy is worth what I am paying, that it is really solvent, that the stock price won't go lower than what I buy it at due to forces beyond its control. I don't think I have that kind of information for most companies out there right now. So the problem is why do we assume these companies are bargains right now? Some companies valuations had gone whacko due to the bubbles of the last few years. Where will this all settle out eventually?

These are really important questions, and I don't have any real answers yet!

[Junkdrawer]

62. This is the curve for the stock I bought...

I have a 12 year relationship with the broker I bought this from. The stock is VERY high quality. Now the big bump up in May-July was because it's an energy stock and energy was through the roof at that time. But the big drop at the end? I think it's simply that someone had to raise money and had to dump. I feel so strongly about that that I bought 100 shares.

I suspect there are many bargains like this out there.

[Regret My New Name]

56. I wish I had some money to invest... Think I can get a billion or so?

[girl gone mad]

58. I'm staying on the sidelines for the most part.

I still think we haven't seen the true lows and recovery will be slow.

I've bought some foreign stocks which pay very high dividends. It seems there are better deals to be found overseas, for now. We are still looking at a severe recession, potential bankruptcies, etc. Tread with caution and don't get too caught up in the relief rallies.

[wartrace]

59. Smart move.

Buy when there is blood in the streets.


Seriously, Joe six pack is dumping his 401k. He is the last seller, the "dumb money". I am doing the same.

[JerseygirlCT]

61. If you can wait long enough, history says you'll be right.

Good luck!

[roamer65]

63. I moved about 25% of the 401K into a good blue chip fund this week.

I have been in bonds since around 13,000 on the Dow.