This is great news if you are among the 15% of Americans who have a 401k and even less have a brokerage account. If this is a high point for the administration, the majority of Americans are missing out.
No point going into the reasons your brokerage account is doing well but congratulations.
congrats I guess for those that have enough in there to get excited about but be careful when this artificial gain collapses. Gamblers will gamble but when do you pull out? for the younger guys who can afford to weather the storm after the bubble bursts and the years it will take to recover, you should be ok but the older guys who are closer to retirement, its time to think about taking your gains. Otherwise you could be screwed.
The Gains are just as real now, as the losses were during the "Bush Boom". Nothing artificial about them at all. My mutual fund isn't going to refuse a redemption because the money isn't real. But glad the doom and gloomers think so, and are worried about the bubble bursting. As long as there is enough of that sentiment around, the markets should continue to do fine. Trying to time the markets is folly, and especially trying to time them because of one's political beliefs is even more foolhardy. Staying consistent through ups and downs is usually the best path.
I hope you're right Guesser as I don't want anyone to lose money. I was in the financial services industry for several years and financial planning is just that. Planning. Stock markets do go up and down throughout history and will always do so. If you are in your 20's, 30's and 40's, you can and should put more of your portfolio into the market because you will do better over time. Better than t-bills and GIC's. But if you are closer to retirement age (whatever that age is) and you are counting on that money as income such as in an annuity or any other retirement plan, then you shouldn't have most of your capital in the stock market. Any financial planner will tell you the same. If you do, then you are gambling. The people that were a couple years away from retirement in 2008 and had all their money in the market are screwed if they wanted to retire soon after. If they had enough time or resources to wait for the recovery, then they did well. The thing is, no one knows when the next fall will happen and for how long it will take to recover.The Gains are just as real now, as the losses were during the "Bush Boom". Nothing artificial about them at all. My mutual fund isn't going to refuse a redemption because the money isn't real. But glad the doom and gloomers think so, and are worried about the bubble bursting. As long as there is enough of that sentiment around, the markets should continue to do fine. Trying to time the markets is folly, and especially trying to time them because of one's political beliefs is even more foolhardy. Staying consistent through ups and downs is usually the best path.
