Comments on: If You Need Stocks, You Can’t Afford Them

By: FBN Roundup – Thanksgiving Edition

FBN Roundup – Thanksgiving Edition — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:24:38 +0000

[...] Fiscal Geek hosted the Carnival of Personal Financethis week which included my post, “If You Need Stocks, You Can’t Afford Them.” [...]

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:08:12 +0000

static and Hope to Prosper – Thanks for sharing your views. I hope you will continue to stop by and read my latest posts.

By: static

static — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:37:46 +0000

i put all my money into the stock market after the crash. at first i diversified. then i moved all my money into ford. if only i had put ALL of my money into ford around $2 a share when i started buying it, i’d probably have enough money to live off of investment income and perhaps the odd job here and there (should there be another economic downturn). but i diversified because that’s the safe, smart thing to do. and so, i’m still in the rat race. smart me.

diversifying is what you do when you’re already wealthy. when you’re just another chump in the rat race, you have to take risks to get out of it. or you can take 20 years and do it the “safe”, diversified way.

it seems fairly obvious to me that we are in the middle of an economic recovery. any money put into an index fund right now will probably see a 30% gain over the next year or so.

By: Hope to Prosper

Hope to Prosper — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:32:31 +0000

I think Zvi Bodie is handing out some pretty lame advice.

Of course you should take advantage of the high returns on stocks (or stock Mutual Funds) for retirement. Unless you are approaching retirement age, you have a very long time horizon to save for retirement and the extra couple of percent will make a huge difference compounded over decades. You will also have plenty of time to recover through stock market cycles.

As for saving 20-30% of income, this is a great idea. Unfortunately, most people who are raising a family and buying a home won’t be able to pull this off. They will be lucky to save 10% early in their working career. So, putting your retirement savings in investments that barely beat inflation doesn’t seem prudent to me.

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #232 Thanksgiving Survival Edition

Carnival of Personal Finance #232 Thanksgiving Survival Edition — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:04:33 +0000

[...] from TightFistedMiser.com presents If You Need Stocks, You Can’t Afford Them. An interesting conversation regarding Zvi Bodie’s statement that you should only invest in [...]

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:40:49 +0000

My Frugal Miser – That is an interesting concept. I do like to think that I am a better than average investor but most people probably think they are better than average. Obviously they can’t all be correct.

By: My Frugal Miser

My Frugal Miser — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:48:17 +0000

I think if you can be interested enough in stocks (or, more precisely, in studying and understanding what makes a company successful) to give it the attention needed, you have a better chance at meeting your retirement goals with stocks than any other investment. Unfortunately, 90% of folks who buy stocks either chase hot tips or follow the herd in some other way.

You don’t even have to be very smart to be successful at it. If you know how to look for a bargain on Black Friday, you’ve got 70% of what it takes to succeed in the stock market.