March of the Lemmings
“It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.” – Anatole France
Whether true or not, it is legendary that lemmings all follow each other. Only after it is too late do they realize they will soon experience the same fate as the hapless travelers in front of them.
Why is it necessary to make the same mistakes as our predecessors?
Running with the herd often seems to be a sensible thing to do. We get comfort knowing that we have other people whose beliefs and actions re-enforce our own. Whether with our choices of lifestyle, investments, TV shows, or religious beliefs, we feel better knowing that we are not alone.
Unsuspecting lemmings went over the cliff in droves during the March 2000 collapse of the stock market, and again in 2008. Homeowners who forgot about 1991 suffered again since 2005. Wouldn’t those have been parades you would have liked to miss?
Learning to think for ourselves and deciding when it is safer to leave the pack than to continue running with it requires independent thinking and the courage to act on our beliefs.
Why not take a moment to see if our online community of people seeking financial independence can help you to develop your own powerful program to create a wealthy lifestyle?
Thoughts of Wealth Blog
Comments
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Nobody seems to be buying stock right now, as evident by the daily tumbling on Wall Street. Would now be a good time to make my own way and pick up some shares on the cheap?
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Great question Chris. The sp500 is a good benchmark for the stock market. This market is down 58% since October of 2007. I have inserted a link into the above post for more information that the pro’s use. bear markets are characterized by sharp rallies, followed by plunges until the process stops.
Buy and hold is dead for now in my opinion. Tradeable bounces, however, will occur many times for the next eight years. My advice: do the opposite of what you want to do with your personal relationships. Stay for the long haul with that beautiful woman of your dreams, but have an affair with stocks.
Try going to some well respected stock sites that are identified in our resource section. Investors, Bloomberg, Minyanville are good places to start for more information.
I will do some research also and write a blog or two in the near future about your question.
It’s good to think long term, but the knife has to stop falling and quiver before the snap back rallies occur. Friday’s late day profit taking may be the start of something, but only time will tell.
If people are having a difficut time paying for mortgages, food, and other necessities, with jobs being lost, with institutions like the banks, brokers, and autos failing, it is unlikely that many people are concerned about buying stock, in my opinion.
We are aware of a lot of gloom and doom out there; we are just trying to stay positive and take it day by day and preserve capital during this difficult time.
The government is going further into debt, and the principles that apply to individuals apply to institutions as well.
AIG is the most glaring example right now of consequences.
’nuff said.
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