Quote from Specterx:
It's just the business cycle... the economy and the stock market will come back sooner or later. In the meantime you can be damn sure I tell my friends & family to be really careful about buying anything, because I feel it's likely that the market will fall further and don't want to see them lose their money. What do I gain by going against reality (as I see it)?
If you want an enemy, attack the media that tell people to put 90% of their life savings in stocks because the market always goes up, and the politicians and snake-oil salesmen that push 401(k)s on people in the first place. I saw an article on CNNMoney the other day saying this was a great time to buy - are you kidding me? Stock speculation is a complex, risky and uncertain business, and like anything else you shouldn't play the game unless you know what you're doing and are prepared to lose.
Stock speculation is a complex risky game , disciplined investing is not. Using options to further reduce risks is a craft that you need to master.
Things are not as bad as they were to look like and January 2008 was a bloodbath. Just look at the charts of mutual funds and see they are all trading below 50 day and 200 moving averages. They have been hurt with 20- 40% declines.
But with that comes the opportunity, and if fear grips you real hard , your losses become permanent losses. You will never recover.