Realistic Investing Expectations - Answering Service Resources

Home
>
Investing
>
Realistic Investing Expectations

Realistic Investing Expectations

Over the long term stocks have provided us with great average return results. But this average return masks a great deal of volatility, because returns have fluctuated within a very wide band.

This extreme volatility is the chief risk of investing in stocks, but it is a risk that tends to recede from investors' memories after a lengthy period of generally rising stock prices.

Those investors new to investing in stocks may underestimate the volatility of stocks because volatility has been muted in recent years.

Time greatly reduces, but certainly does not eliminate the volatility in returns from stocks. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that you will earn above average returns even if you hold stocks for two decades or more.

Investors who are relatively new to investing in stocks may benefit from some perspective about bear markets. During the bear markets, Indexes declined an average of 25-35%. Although the average bear market lasted a little longer than 12 months, it took an average of almost 20 months for the Indexes to return to the levels achieved before the market downturns.

Although no one can reliably predict the timing of bear markets (or bull markets, for that matter), a prudent investor should understand the extent to which stock prices can decline and should be prepared to "ride out" these periods when they occur.

The big danger from bear markets is that investors will sell at or near the bottom of the downturn. Those who got out of stocks missed an extraordinary rebound in stock market performance.

Since risk is inescapable when investing in stocks, perhaps the greatest risk is that you will never invest in stocks because you can never be sure when is "the right time" to invest.

Uncertainty is a permanent feature of the investing landscape, and trying to discern the ideal time to invest is almost always a futile exercise.

Don't be swayed by market fluctuations or the opinions and predictions from market analysts and forecasters!

Your investment strategy and expectations should all be based on your personal objectives, time horizon, risk tolerance and financial situation.

It should not be determined by the direction of the financial markets or the opinions of "The Experts!"

haramis@greekshares.com http://www.greekshares.com

Ioannis - Evangelos C. Haramis was born in Greece in 1951 and he studied in Greece, USA and in Belgium. He has been active in the stock markets since 1972. Since 2002 he is New Business Development Managing Director at an Investment Bank and editor of http://www.greekshares.com

In The News:

Fidelity hires new head of personal investing
Boston Globe, United States - 11 hours ago
Fidelity Investments has hired ING Groep NV's Kathleen Murphy as president of its personal investing unit. Murphy, 45, will start at Fidelity on Jan. ...
Highest-Level Executive In State To Leave ING Hartford Courant
ING to split annuities and retirement units InvestmentNews
all 4 news articles

Forget the Investing Gene
Motley Fool - 33 minutes ago
Just as some parents will inevitably use this test as the sole reason to keep their kids from certain sports, we sometimes keep ourselves from investing for ...

Seattle Post Intelligencer
Dump the CEOs Before Investing in US Industry
OpEdNews, PA - 32 minutes ago
... investment banking, airlines, automakers, credit-card companies, or raw material producers will result in predictable repetition of the dismal patterns ...
Video: Chrysler Exec: Failure Could Spark Depression AssociatedPress
Valuing Lemons: GM and Ford Wall Street Journal Blogs
Bankruptcy for Big Three should be an option Metro Spirit
Chicago Tribuneall 1,981 news articles

UPDATE 1-Baosteel to speed overseas investment, eyes Spain
Reuters - 7 hours ago
By Alison Leung HONG KONG, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Baosteel Group, China's largest steelmaker, plans to speed up overseas investment to take advantage of lower ...
Baosteel May Delay $4 Billion Vale Slab Venture By Nine Months Bloomberg
all 6 news articles

Global Investing Roundups
Money Morning - 7 hours ago
AT&T Inc. (T) said it would scale back 12000 jobs, about 4% of its workforce, between now and the end of 2009 to fight "economic pressures, ...

Telegraph.co.uk
CIC Head Wary of Investing in Western Banks
Wall Street Journal - Dec 2, 2008
Lou Jiwei, who head's China Investment Corp., said the uncertainty surrounding Western banks and the policy decisions that may determine their fate makes it ...
CIC weary of Western banks Thomson Merger News (registration)
China's sovereign wealth fund to avoid western financial firms: report AFP
CIC Now Very Wary of Investment in Foreign Financial Firms ChinaStakes.com
Reuters - In-Forumall 274 news articles

GoldMorgan Stanley, Investing For Deflation, And ETFs Gain By Default
IndexUniverse.com, NY - 1 hour ago
... bonds slip further into negative territory, this article summarising some recent Merrill Lynch research, on investing for deflation, caught my eye. ...

slow and steady investing
CNNMoney.com - 16 hours ago
Investor Daily: During the flat market of 1966-1982, investors who kept investing every month earned better returns. By Adam Lashinsky, senior writer SAN ...

Investing in Pure-Play Companies
Motley Fool - 29 minutes ago
By Selena Maranjian I've written before about the advantages of concentrated or "focused" investing. Focusing your investing attention and dollars just ...

Ball State Investing $17.7M In Emerging Media Reseach Initiative
Broadcast Newsroom, CA - 16 hours ago
By John Eggerton Ball State is in investing $17.7 million in a new Emerging Media reseach initiative. The goal of the initiative, funded with money from the ...

investing - Google News

Answering Service ResourceAnswering Service Resource