@TommySez: Thats where you win. Wait for the collapse, buy stocks cheap, then sit sell it when it goes back up. Unless, of course, it turns into Lord of the Flies, and we're eating you.

holymogwai

@TommySez: So what you are saying, turn lemons into lemonade? Sounds like a great time to invest in some stock at a cheap price that will have a large return.

The US economy might collapse, but it wont stay there for long.

dorylomorphs

Of course, this all assumes that the U.S. economy won't totally collapse.

Which it will.

TommySez

The advice assumes people, by and large, use stocks to invest. They don't. They use them to speculate, especially the newbie "investors".

Pixelantes Anonymous

Unless you're willing to spend time doing research, stick to index funds. The stock market is currently in the dumper and as long as it is so, it's probably a good time to start buying. Who knows for how long--things will likely get worse before they get better.

onesix18

Way back when, when I first started investing, I freaked out at every little change up or down. On up days, I thought, "man, I'm a genius." On down days, I thought, "crap, I suck at this."

Anyway, after years of trail and error, the only sure way to win at is to not freak out in times like this and pull your money out. Better yet, have some cash on the sidelines to buy the good values in bad times. Then just sit back, enjoy the ups and downs (or better yet, don't pay attention and trust your allocation scheme), and reap the rewards years later.

titaniumtommy

@TPSreports: If you've got a great resource in your pocket, why not share it?

Troy F.

Just buy Berkshire-Hathaway. The company is so diversified, it's almost like a mutual fund with Warren Buffett as the fund manager. And yes, Berkshire-Hathaway outperforms the S&P 500.

Deprong Mori

Yet another link to a shitty financial "advice" page from Lifehacker. You people really don't know The Good from the Not So Good.

TPSreports

Three words: ETFs. Foreign ones (at least for me) kick ass.

jamesdenver

Overall, a good intro. Bernstein's "Intelligent Asset Allocator" or "4 Pillars of Investing" are worth checking out too: aimed at the retailed investor, they emphasize passive/index approaches and low cost funds.
@Deprong: Minor point, but remember that a single stock will carry more risk than an S&P 500 index, so the stock will naturally offer higher returns.
@TPS: What's your objection to the article?

rscotta

No-load index funds tracking the S&P 500 are one of the best investments you can make. Even with downturns they've averaged a 9% return over the last 20 years, which is pretty impressive.

Aanidaani

"For medium term goals (two to ten years), diversify at your comfort level. If your investment window is more than two years, the odds that you'll come out ahead on the stock market start to get better, but it still comes with some risk."

June 1999: S&P 500 = 1372
Jan 28 2008: S&P 500 = 1354

Nov 1968: S&P 500 = 108
July 1982: S&P 500 = 107

Because you never know when the stock market is going to hit a 9+ year flat spell, or go into a bear market for a number of years, I personally would not put any money in the stock market that I know you will have to spend in the foreseeable future (next 2-20 years). You should only have money in the stock market that you can afford to let sit for 9-15 years if thats what it takes in order to avoid selling at a loss.

AndyFromTucson

Wow, way to cherry-pick there, AndyFromTucson. If you had kept reading the paragraph, you'd see:
"The more vital that money is to your life plans, the more conservative you should be with it. If you're not sure, be more conservative than less - keep plenty in the savings account and just dabble in the stocks."

cephyn

@PIXELANTES ANONYMOUS: Correct, most stock "investing" is really just speculation. By my definition, unless your stock pays a dividend, you are speculating.

onesix18

@Surfer_Ninja: Mad Money would be a great investment strategy except that in every controlled stock picking game I've seen Cramer in (Men's Health, Money Magazine, others), he's underperformed and S&P index fund, and generally been lapped by the field. Cramer sounds smart, but he and the Motley Fools are throwing darts based on company information.

Mitigate risk. Index funds. Make a mix of ^GSPC (S&P 500), VXF (Wilshire Completion) and EFA (Europe and Asia equiv of S&P 500).

PotKettleBlack

It's easy...
Just stick with CRAMER! Seriously though, Mad Money is a great show if you're looking to get started in the market.

surfer__ninja