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Despite Rising Dow, People Still Scared of Stocks

'I think we've lost another generation'

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 5, 2012 8:26 AM CDT

(Newser) – Stocks have reached new heights lately, but it's been a lonely climb. A host of investors have soured on the market, pulling a net $138 billion out of it since March 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. That makes it the first time since 1981 that stock investment has decreased at least two years in a row. "I think we've lost another generation," one money manager laments, noting similar behavior following crashes in the 1930s and '70s.

The exit has been softened because 401k plans keep funneling money into the markets. But the two crashes of the last decade drove many long-term investors out of the market, retiring baby boomers are increasingly pulling their money to safer shores, and young investors don't trust it. "I get the reaction, they are a pack of thieves and liars, and you can't trust them," says one manager. "The news flow continues to reinforce it."

In a  Aug. 31 file photo, a trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
In a Aug. 31 file photo, a trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.   (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
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Every other day on the news there's some crisis. The whole euro-zone collapse talk keeps going and going. If it's not Greece, it's Spain. Then there's the whole Facebook blowup. - Rosa White, 27-year-old investor

I ski the biggest mountains all over the world. I have ridden my motorcycle all over the country. I love risk, but I still fear the market. There is just no stability in the world on anything. - Jay Greenblatt, 75-year-old investor

People are scared stiff to go through an '08 again. People do talk about that: 'Whatever you do, I don't want to go through an '08 again.' - Mark Pollard, financial adviser with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 15 comments
boxcar
Oct 5, 2012 12:58 PM CDT
In 2006 I KNEW from Solar Mortality Theory in the previous decade that an EVENT would occur on 2007.5 that would TRIGGER onset of global socio-economic upheavals leading to a 2nd Great Depression, so I asked my- self what is out there that no one can do without? Ans. FOOD, to live everyone has to EAT or you DIE. 2nd quesion- What do we need to produce FOOD? Ans. Fossile FUELs so I invested into an Annuity thru a Jackson LIfe ENERGY FUND- little did I know OIL would hit $150, so when I go to the pump and gas just jumped 10cents I give a resounding Y E S because I know my Energy Fund just jumped up too- How's that work? A Fall 1976 Scientific American magazine devoted to ENERGY gave it all away- The BULK of the world's fertilizer comes from the HABER Chemical process where NAT.GAS is combined with N2 from the air to create all Amonium Nitrate fertilizer distributed to farmers to pump into the ground to ARIFICIALLY create Bumper Crops, feeding grains & corn to cattle, pigs, chickens to grow our protein- The KICKER? IF we were to burn up ALL of our natural gas (a Fossile Fuel) we'd all be dead within one year. Sorry FOLKS but these are FACTS OF LIFE- can't make FERTILIZER from any other energy source, not wind, solar or nuclear or hydo-electric or you name it- FOSSILE FUEL is Stored Solar Energy from the millions of years it took for our sun to grow the carbon-based forests & algae that eventually became Fossile Fuel. As soon as its gone, [SO R WE]......so anyone who promotes a switch to nat.gas or ethanol to propel us, is stoopidly hastening that future to come upon the human species where MASS DIE OFF has to occur- A more sensible approach is to promote BIRTH Control, otherwise its our traditional FINAL SOLUTION of use of DEATH Control, again and again every 3 generations when theres only 1 generation to support RETIREES, AGED and NEWBORNs. Modern History is defined by Solar Mortality Theory wherein this GENOCIDE occurs The years are 1860s, the 1930s and NOW, spaced apart by 3 generations of sun-synchronized human race Since religious nutcakes rule the planet such a sensible approachs will never happen-A BIG DUH 4 humans
Plato
Oct 5, 2012 11:40 AM CDT
If you are not going to put your life savings in an investment portfolio then where the hell are you going to put it ?  Spread in around in bank saving accounts that are FDIC secured, well yeah your money is secure but you will earn less that one per cent per year.  Put it in real estate ?  Ha ha, now you are talking big time risk.  We have constant inflation, which means that each dollar has a little less purchasing power as time goes by. I invested in common stocks after I sold my inherited farm land. I am not disappointed in how I did with them, but you really have to pay attention to them.  So I sold all of them and spread it around in mutual funds, I like this better altho I do pay  management fees. 
ewd76
Oct 5, 2012 9:23 AM CDT
People still have 401K's?
 

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