The stock market

[Indeependent]

The stock market doesnt do anything for the economy. The stock market takes and takes and takes till there nothing left to take. Thats what unfettered capitalism does. Dont you know what builds a healthy economy? Working people do. Look it up.

Thats because the stock market is NOT the economy.

Perhaps you should learn the differences before making a bigger fool of yourself.

Most people expand or build new homes, go on vacations and buy vehicles based on their Stock Portfolio.
To claim the Stock Market is not de facto the economy is foolish.

Its not a claim, its a fact. Because people make foolish choices does not alter that.

There are MANY people making foolish choices because they have been fed the nonsense that Investment Firms are honest and know what they're doing.

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

 

[Windship]

when the next bank failure and bailout happens, tell me again how well it works. If the tax payer working class didnt bail them out, unfettered capitalism would have died in 1970. So,...how many times have the working class bailed out the banks?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

when the next bank failure and bailout happens, tell me again how well it works. If the tax payer working class didnt bail them out, unfettered capitalism would have died in 1970. So,...how many times have the working class bailed out the banks?

when the next bank failure and bailout happens, tell me again how well it works

You mean like TARP that was very profitable?

 

[Windship]

Dig this you jerks. Lol, you think the corporations will let you keep your 100,400 or 800thousand dollar bank accounts...gues what/...they want YOUR money to! Truth is is that if your not part of those 62 families that run the world,...you and I are going to be in the same boat....but your greed has blinded you. I siggest you watch this:

you think the corporations will let you keep your 100,400 or 800thousand dollar bank accounts...

How are the corporations going to take my bank account? Which corporations?

Truth is is that if your not part of those 62 families that run the world,...

You're seeing a whole team of psychiatrists, aren't you?

Because the corporations want it all. Your bank account is most defiantly going to be in their sights as well. You think its just the poors money that they want? Your the one that needs a psychiatrist? Show me how your going to avoid being a consumer in order to avoid the melt down?

Because the corporations want it all.

If wants were horses.........yada yada.

Your bank account is most defiantly going to be in their sights as well.

Defiantly, well, sounds serious for sure.

Oh, wel...thats not bashing, thats fact.

 

[Darkwind]

Thats because the stock market is NOT the economy.

Perhaps you should learn the differences before making a bigger fool of yourself.

Most people expand or build new homes, go on vacations and buy vehicles based on their Stock Portfolio.
To claim the Stock Market is not de facto the economy is foolish.

Its not a claim, its a fact. Because people make foolish choices does not alter that.

There are MANY people making foolish choices because they have been fed the nonsense that Investment Firms are honest and know what they're doing.

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

You're not making any sense.

Brokerages make money by having their investors keep their money in the portfolio's. The agents earn their commission on their clients keeping money in the portfolio.

People, who wish to sell shares to take profits to spend on vacations homes, and boats, and trips to far away lands do so based upon their own sense of doing well. It is, after all, their money. However, to blame others for their choices is simply wrong. No brokerage or retirement manager is going to advise a client to sell stock for material goods gains.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Dig this you jerks. Lol, you think the corporations will let you keep your 100,400 or 800thousand dollar bank accounts...gues what/...they want YOUR money to! Truth is is that if your not part of those 62 families that run the world,...you and I are going to be in the same boat....but your greed has blinded you. I siggest you watch this:

you think the corporations will let you keep your 100,400 or 800thousand dollar bank accounts...

How are the corporations going to take my bank account? Which corporations?

Truth is is that if your not part of those 62 families that run the world,...

You're seeing a whole team of psychiatrists, aren't you?

Because the corporations want it all. Your bank account is most defiantly going to be in their sights as well. You think its just the poors money that they want? Your the one that needs a psychiatrist? Show me how your going to avoid being a consumer in order to avoid the melt down?

Because the corporations want it all.

If wants were horses.........yada yada.

Your bank account is most defiantly going to be in their sights as well.

Defiantly, well, sounds serious for sure.

Oh, wel...thats not bashing, thats fact.

That's not fact, that's idiotic.

 

[Indeependent]

Most people expand or build new homes, go on vacations and buy vehicles based on their Stock Portfolio.
To claim the Stock Market is not de facto the economy is foolish.

Its not a claim, its a fact. Because people make foolish choices does not alter that.

There are MANY people making foolish choices because they have been fed the nonsense that Investment Firms are honest and know what they're doing.

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

You're not making any sense.

Brokerages make money by having their investors keep their money in the portfolio's. The agents earn their commission on their clients keeping money in the portfolio.

People, who wish to sell shares to take profits to spend on vacations homes, and boats, and trips to far away lands do so based upon their own sense of doing well. It is, after all, their money. However, to blame others for their choices is simply wrong. No brokerage or retirement manager is going to advise a client to sell stock for material goods gains.

Fee, Commissions and reinvestments.
Firms make money from Transactions.
I don't blame the Firms for the fact that less than 1% of investors know anything about how their investments are invested or "protected".

 

[AyeCantSeeYou]

How about NOT copying and pasting entire articles on this forum? Read the rules. You are supposed to provide a small sample of the content ALONG with your OWN thoughts about it.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

How about NOT copying and pasting entire articles on this forum? Read the rules. You are supposed to provide a small sample of the content ALONG with your OWN thoughts about it.

He has no original thoughts about any of this.

 

[Andylusion]

ok so Ill buy 17usd worth of that stock. Now, Ive just spent thegas money on an investment that will pay me a 300% profit!!...in about 2 years. If you think working ppl can invest enough money to MAKE money?...you have the mind of a child.

First off........ LOL........ Never say to someone "you have the mind of a child", directly after typing "ppl" because "people" was too difficult.

Just trying to help you out. You want to be taken seriously.... You can't be so ignorant, as to type "ppl" and then call people names. Friendly advice

Second.... Both of my parents were public school teachers. They now have a net-worth over a million dollars. And half of that is in stocks in the stock market.

In fact, the vast majority of the stocks in this world today, are owned by the public, or are owned as retirement for the public.

View attachment 88309
35% is owned by private households.
20% is owned by mutual funds, 401Ks, Roth 401Ks, IRAs, and Roth IRAs.
9% is owned by Pension funds, usually for Union pensions.
8% owned by government pension funds. This would be 403b plans for government workers.

71% of the market is owned by the public, and by retirement plans that benefit the public.

If you eliminated the stock market, not only would you harm the companies, and workers whose jobs exist because of the stock market..... but you would also ruin possibly hundreds of millions of people, particularly the elderly that depend on their retirement plans and pensions.

So, your source is a chart created by fucking goldman sachs?...lmfaorotf...you call me ignorant? Im anything but ignorant and you know it unless you dont know how it all works but you say that knowing all too well what is causing the destruction of our country. You go ahead and play dumb...your pretty good at it.

ok so Ill buy 17usd worth of that stock. Now, Ive just spent thegas money on an investment that will pay me a 300% profit!!...in about 2 years. If you think working ppl can invest enough money to MAKE money?...you have the mind of a child.

First off........ LOL........ Never say to someone "you have the mind of a child", directly after typing "ppl" because "people" was too difficult.

Just trying to help you out. You want to be taken seriously.... You can't be so ignorant, as to type "ppl" and then call people names. Friendly advice

Second.... Both of my parents were public school teachers. They now have a net-worth over a million dollars. And half of that is in stocks in the stock market.

In fact, the vast majority of the stocks in this world today, are owned by the public, or are owned as retirement for the public.

View attachment 88309
35% is owned by private households.
20% is owned by mutual funds, 401Ks, Roth 401Ks, IRAs, and Roth IRAs.
9% is owned by Pension funds, usually for Union pensions.
8% owned by government pension funds. This would be 403b plans for government workers.

71% of the market is owned by the public, and by retirement plans that benefit the public.

If you eliminated the stock market, not only would you harm the companies, and workers whose jobs exist because of the stock market..... but you would also ruin possibly hundreds of millions of people, particularly the elderly that depend on their retirement plans and pensions.

So, your source is a chart created by fucking goldman sachs?...lmfaorotf...you call me ignorant? Im anything but ignorant and you know it unless you dont know how it all works but you say that knowing all too well what is causing the destruction of our country. You go ahead and play dumb...your pretty good at it.

Can you argue against the evidence given? Yes or no? Answer: No you can not.

Do you have counter evidence? Yes or no? Answer: No, you have no evidence.

Do you have an argument to make? Yes or no? Answer: No, you are a mindless troll incapable of arguing with the facts.

Especially since the source included the Federal Reserve. If the Federal Reserve lied, and Goldman Sachs lied, then you are not just ignorant, you are one of those tin foil hat people "everyone is lying but meeee!"

Well... that just makes you a freak, and waste of time.

 

[Andylusion]

Thats because the stock market is NOT the economy.

Perhaps you should learn the differences before making a bigger fool of yourself.

Most people expand or build new homes, go on vacations and buy vehicles based on their Stock Portfolio.
To claim the Stock Market is not de facto the economy is foolish.

Its not a claim, its a fact. Because people make foolish choices does not alter that.

There are MANY people making foolish choices because they have been fed the nonsense that Investment Firms are honest and know what they're doing.

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

I don't understand this.

Investment values can't be audited, because the values of stocks change by the minute.

I own stock in Walmart. In just 3 hours, stock values went from $73.2, to $72.5. They go up and down, up and down. Constantly change. Even when the stock market itself is closed, there are after-hours trading, and price go up and down constantly.

If you did a value audit, the results of that audit would be obsolete between the time where you clicked 'print', and the paper spit out of the printer.

So I'm not real sure what you mean by "no one audits the investment values".

As for clients spend money like no tomorrow. That's their problem. If the client wants to spend money until he's broke.... that is going to happen regardless of what the investment firm does.

There is no investment firm, that is going to magically invest your money, so brilliantly, that he can out earn, your stupidity as a person.

If you are determine to buy everything you want, regardless of if you have the money to cover it.... then it doesn't matter if the CEO of Goldman Sachs is your golfing partner or not. You are going to be broke.

Lastly, exchanges do not tell you that if you have, or don't have, any money. Exchanges can only tell you that based on the last trades, the assets you own have X value if you can sell them at the last value they sold for.

Let me put it another way. I have a grand marquis. I bought my grand marquis with only 60,000 miles on it, for only $3,000. Meanwhile another person who bought the same car, paid $6,000. How did I get my car for so cheap, while someone else had to pay twice a much?

Easy. I bought my car in 2008, when gas was hitting $4 a gallon. He bought his, in 2010, when gas was half that. When I bought my car, people were freaking out that the evil oil companies which supposedly controlled gas prices, were going to keep driving up the price until it was $8 a gallon.

So the value of a V8 massive luxury land yacht, was low. By 2010 when people saw the gas-Apocalypse wasn't coming, the values came back.

Everything changes in value over time. Everything does. Nothing in this world has 'intrinsic value'. Thus the stock exchange does not lie, or manipulate. They can only tell you want the value of your investment is, based on the last known trade.

But that doesn't mean the value will stay there. If another Enron happens, and they find out that X Corp was fabricating sales data, and you own stock in X Corp, the value of that stock is going to go down.

If the government institutes protectionism, and eliminates imports, and that kills domestic companies, the value of your stock will go down. No value is static.

 

[Indeependent]

Most people expand or build new homes, go on vacations and buy vehicles based on their Stock Portfolio.
To claim the Stock Market is not de facto the economy is foolish.

Its not a claim, its a fact. Because people make foolish choices does not alter that.

There are MANY people making foolish choices because they have been fed the nonsense that Investment Firms are honest and know what they're doing.

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

I don't understand this.

Investment values can't be audited, because the values of stocks change by the minute.

I own stock in Walmart. In just 3 hours, stock values went from $73.2, to $72.5. They go up and down, up and down. Constantly change. Even when the stock market itself is closed, there are after-hours trading, and price go up and down constantly.

If you did a value audit, the results of that audit would be obsolete between the time where you clicked 'print', and the paper spit out of the printer.

So I'm not real sure what you mean by "no one audits the investment values".

As for clients spend money like no tomorrow. That's their problem. If the client wants to spend money until he's broke.... that is going to happen regardless of what the investment firm does.

There is no investment firm, that is going to magically invest your money, so brilliantly, that he can out earn, your stupidity as a person.

If you are determine to buy everything you want, regardless of if you have the money to cover it.... then it doesn't matter if the CEO of Goldman Sachs is your golfing partner or not. You are going to be broke.

Lastly, exchanges do not tell you that if you have, or don't have, any money. Exchanges can only tell you that based on the last trades, the assets you own have X value if you can sell them at the last value they sold for.

Let me put it another way. I have a grand marquis. I bought my grand marquis with only 60,000 miles on it, for only $3,000. Meanwhile another person who bought the same car, paid $6,000. How did I get my car for so cheap, while someone else had to pay twice a much?

Easy. I bought my car in 2008, when gas was hitting $4 a gallon. He bought his, in 2010, when gas was half that. When I bought my car, people were freaking out that the evil oil companies which supposedly controlled gas prices, were going to keep driving up the price until it was $8 a gallon.

So the value of a V8 massive luxury land yacht, was low. By 2010 when people saw the gas-Apocalypse wasn't coming, the values came back.

Everything changes in value over time. Everything does. Nothing in this world has 'intrinsic value'. Thus the stock exchange does not lie, or manipulate. They can only tell you want the value of your investment is, based on the last known trade.

But that doesn't mean the value will stay there. If another Enron happens, and they find out that X Corp was fabricating sales data, and you own stock in X Corp, the value of that stock is going to go down.

If the government institutes protectionism, and eliminates imports, and that kills domestic companies, the value of your stock will go down. No value is static.

Most people I know under the age of 70 invest in CHINA; they couldn't give a damn about Brick & Mortar.
NO ONE even knows if the companies in China even exist or are producing a product.
My friend goes to China 4 times a year and India 4 times a year and has SIGNIFICANT issues with production and broken promises.

 

[Andylusion]

Its not a claim, its a fact. Because people make foolish choices does not alter that.

There are MANY people making foolish choices because they have been fed the nonsense that Investment Firms are honest and know what they're doing.

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

I don't understand this.

Investment values can't be audited, because the values of stocks change by the minute.

I own stock in Walmart. In just 3 hours, stock values went from $73.2, to $72.5. They go up and down, up and down. Constantly change. Even when the stock market itself is closed, there are after-hours trading, and price go up and down constantly.

If you did a value audit, the results of that audit would be obsolete between the time where you clicked 'print', and the paper spit out of the printer.

So I'm not real sure what you mean by "no one audits the investment values".

As for clients spend money like no tomorrow. That's their problem. If the client wants to spend money until he's broke.... that is going to happen regardless of what the investment firm does.

There is no investment firm, that is going to magically invest your money, so brilliantly, that he can out earn, your stupidity as a person.

If you are determine to buy everything you want, regardless of if you have the money to cover it.... then it doesn't matter if the CEO of Goldman Sachs is your golfing partner or not. You are going to be broke.

Lastly, exchanges do not tell you that if you have, or don't have, any money. Exchanges can only tell you that based on the last trades, the assets you own have X value if you can sell them at the last value they sold for.

Let me put it another way. I have a grand marquis. I bought my grand marquis with only 60,000 miles on it, for only $3,000. Meanwhile another person who bought the same car, paid $6,000. How did I get my car for so cheap, while someone else had to pay twice a much?

Easy. I bought my car in 2008, when gas was hitting $4 a gallon. He bought his, in 2010, when gas was half that. When I bought my car, people were freaking out that the evil oil companies which supposedly controlled gas prices, were going to keep driving up the price until it was $8 a gallon.

So the value of a V8 massive luxury land yacht, was low. By 2010 when people saw the gas-Apocalypse wasn't coming, the values came back.

Everything changes in value over time. Everything does. Nothing in this world has 'intrinsic value'. Thus the stock exchange does not lie, or manipulate. They can only tell you want the value of your investment is, based on the last known trade.

But that doesn't mean the value will stay there. If another Enron happens, and they find out that X Corp was fabricating sales data, and you own stock in X Corp, the value of that stock is going to go down.

If the government institutes protectionism, and eliminates imports, and that kills domestic companies, the value of your stock will go down. No value is static.

Most people I know under the age of 70 invest in CHINA; they couldn't give a damn about Brick & Mortar.
NO ONE even knows if the companies in China even exist or are producing a product.
My friend goes to China 4 times a year and India 4 times a year and has SIGNIFICANT issues with production and broken promises.

Yeah. Ok, so what?

Everything you do in this world, is subject to people breaking promises. You can marry a wife, spend your life with her, and she can run off with another man, and leave you wrecked.

You can take your car to a mechanic, and he can break the engine, and leave town. I know someone that this happened to.

There are no guarantees in life. None.

So I don't understand what your point is. So what about broken promises in China? Does that change the fact my stock in Prudential, and Novartis, are both up?

Let me explain how this works.

I do not buy single stocks. No one ever should. You buy mutual funds, and own stocks through mutual funds.

Moreover, you should buy more than one mutual fund. Possibly 4 or 5.

So here is how it works out. If my mutual fund discovers that my stock in say.... Croda International, or Banca Popolare Di Milano, or Hermès International, is not doing so well, or they find the company lied about "brick and mortar" in China.... they sell the stock, on my behalf. And buy stock in companies that have not lied, or are performing better.

See, people like you and me, we don't have the time, or the resources, or even the interest in doing the continuous research, to determine which stocks to buy and sell. Mutual funds on the other hand, that is specifically what they do. I worked for a short time at a pension fund which is basically a mutual fund, only dedicated to a captive customer base. The stock traders were shut away in a glass room, with dozens of monitors on all the walls, with all the major news networks on 24-7, and every computer had the stock tickers running 24-7 of all the major exchanges, and every major news paper was delivered to the room every morning, before they even arrived.

All the traders did, all day long from morning until closing, was read, watch, and learn everything they could, both about the companies whose stocks they owned already, and the stocks of companies they were considering buying.

Since I own stocks through a mutual fund, those guys work for me. So I don't care about some broken promise in China. If it matters, the traders at my mutual fund will read about it, learn about it, research it, and buy, or sell, stocks in response to it.

That's why my investments are up 75% over how much I've put into them, over the past decade. If things keep going as they have been, I'll have literally twice as much money in investments, than how much I've put into my investments, in about 3 years.

 

[Indeependent]

There are MANY people making foolish choices because they have been fed the nonsense that Investment Firms are honest and know what they're doing.

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

I don't understand this.

Investment values can't be audited, because the values of stocks change by the minute.

I own stock in Walmart. In just 3 hours, stock values went from $73.2, to $72.5. They go up and down, up and down. Constantly change. Even when the stock market itself is closed, there are after-hours trading, and price go up and down constantly.

If you did a value audit, the results of that audit would be obsolete between the time where you clicked 'print', and the paper spit out of the printer.

So I'm not real sure what you mean by "no one audits the investment values".

As for clients spend money like no tomorrow. That's their problem. If the client wants to spend money until he's broke.... that is going to happen regardless of what the investment firm does.

There is no investment firm, that is going to magically invest your money, so brilliantly, that he can out earn, your stupidity as a person.

If you are determine to buy everything you want, regardless of if you have the money to cover it.... then it doesn't matter if the CEO of Goldman Sachs is your golfing partner or not. You are going to be broke.

Lastly, exchanges do not tell you that if you have, or don't have, any money. Exchanges can only tell you that based on the last trades, the assets you own have X value if you can sell them at the last value they sold for.

Let me put it another way. I have a grand marquis. I bought my grand marquis with only 60,000 miles on it, for only $3,000. Meanwhile another person who bought the same car, paid $6,000. How did I get my car for so cheap, while someone else had to pay twice a much?

Easy. I bought my car in 2008, when gas was hitting $4 a gallon. He bought his, in 2010, when gas was half that. When I bought my car, people were freaking out that the evil oil companies which supposedly controlled gas prices, were going to keep driving up the price until it was $8 a gallon.

So the value of a V8 massive luxury land yacht, was low. By 2010 when people saw the gas-Apocalypse wasn't coming, the values came back.

Everything changes in value over time. Everything does. Nothing in this world has 'intrinsic value'. Thus the stock exchange does not lie, or manipulate. They can only tell you want the value of your investment is, based on the last known trade.

But that doesn't mean the value will stay there. If another Enron happens, and they find out that X Corp was fabricating sales data, and you own stock in X Corp, the value of that stock is going to go down.

If the government institutes protectionism, and eliminates imports, and that kills domestic companies, the value of your stock will go down. No value is static.

Most people I know under the age of 70 invest in CHINA; they couldn't give a damn about Brick & Mortar.
NO ONE even knows if the companies in China even exist or are producing a product.
My friend goes to China 4 times a year and India 4 times a year and has SIGNIFICANT issues with production and broken promises.

Yeah. Ok, so what?

Everything you do in this world, is subject to people breaking promises. You can marry a wife, spend your life with her, and she can run off with another man, and leave you wrecked.

You can take your car to a mechanic, and he can break the engine, and leave town. I know someone that this happened to.

There are no guarantees in life. None.

So I don't understand what your point is. So what about broken promises in China? Does that change the fact my stock in Prudential, and Novartis, are both up?

Let me explain how this works.

I do not buy single stocks. No one ever should. You buy mutual funds, and own stocks through mutual funds.

Moreover, you should buy more than one mutual fund. Possibly 4 or 5.

So here is how it works out. If my mutual fund discovers that my stock in say.... Croda International, or Banca Popolare Di Milano, or Hermès International, is not doing so well, or they find the company lied about "brick and mortar" in China.... they sell the stock, on my behalf. And buy stock in companies that have no lied, or are performing better.

See, people like you and me, we don't have the time, or the resources, or even the interest in doing the continuous research, to determine which stocks to buy and sell. Mutual funds on the other hand, that is specifically what they do. I worked for a short time at a pension fund which is basically a mutual fund, only dedicated to a captive customer base. The stock traders were shut away in a glass room, with dozens of monitors on all the walls, with all the major news networks on 24-7, and every computer had the stock tickers running 24-7 of all the major exchanges, and every major news paper was delivered to the room every morning, before they even arrived.

All the traders did, all day long from morning until closing, was read, watch, and learn everything they could, both about the companies whose stocks they owned already, and the stocks of companies they were considering buying.

Since I own stocks through a mutual fund, those guys work for me. So I don't care about some broken promise in China. If it matters, the traders at my mutual fund will read about it, learn about it, research it, and buy, or sell, stocks in response to it.

That's why my investments are up 75% over how much I've put into them, over the past decade. If things keep going as they have been, I'll have literally twice as much money in investments, than how much I've put into my investments, in about 3 years.

If you invested since 2008 your investments are definitely doing well.
The Stock Market is a gambling casino and there are way too many companies out there to audit.
Personally, if your investments are doing well, that's fine.
As long as you don't try to make it sound like any Investment Firms give a damn about whether or not your investment choices make any sense in the real world.
You can thank the US Government for investing and propping up the market.
Just make sure to move your investments to Money Markets before the next crash within the next year.

 

[eflatminor]

A bunch of do nothing, screw the country, greedy ass mf'rs. Go to hell.How much is enough? Fu. You need to be watched and regulated just like a bunch of children so you dont fk the country up...oooops...to late. Class war comin....

Greedy? You do understand that the majority of Americans are invested in stock markets, right? Are the majority of Americans greedy for doing so?

Fk the country? How is investing in businesses, our job creators, fk'ing anyone?

Sounds like someone's simply jealous of success he didn't achieve.

Class war, eh? Try bringing that shit up my driveway.

The majority can barely pay their bills.

Yet well over half are invested in the markets. Sorry if the truth doesn't fit your narrative.

 

[Indeependent]

A bunch of do nothing, screw the country, greedy ass mf'rs. Go to hell.How much is enough? Fu. You need to be watched and regulated just like a bunch of children so you dont fk the country up...oooops...to late. Class war comin....

Greedy? You do understand that the majority of Americans are invested in stock markets, right? Are the majority of Americans greedy for doing so?

Fk the country? How is investing in businesses, our job creators, fk'ing anyone?

Sounds like someone's simply jealous of success he didn't achieve.

Class war, eh? Try bringing that shit up my driveway.

The majority can barely pay their bills.

Yet well over half are invested in the markets. Sorry if the truth doesn't fit your narrative.

Strawman..
Most people in the market have a few thousand dollars at most invested by their employers and probably don't even realize it until they get fired.

 

[Andylusion]

I know of absolutely no brokerage firm that will tell you to go ahead and buy a house or a boat based upon your stock return. That is not what it is for or how it is used.

No one said that.
What happens is that investment values are never audited.
Clients believe their Financial Statement and Online Screens.
Clients spend money like there's no tomorrow.
And why shouldn't clients spend money that the Exchanges tell them they have.
After all, aren't people paying all those Free Market companies Fees to ensure that the illusion is real?

I don't understand this.

Investment values can't be audited, because the values of stocks change by the minute.

I own stock in Walmart. In just 3 hours, stock values went from $73.2, to $72.5. They go up and down, up and down. Constantly change. Even when the stock market itself is closed, there are after-hours trading, and price go up and down constantly.

If you did a value audit, the results of that audit would be obsolete between the time where you clicked 'print', and the paper spit out of the printer.

So I'm not real sure what you mean by "no one audits the investment values".

As for clients spend money like no tomorrow. That's their problem. If the client wants to spend money until he's broke.... that is going to happen regardless of what the investment firm does.

There is no investment firm, that is going to magically invest your money, so brilliantly, that he can out earn, your stupidity as a person.

If you are determine to buy everything you want, regardless of if you have the money to cover it.... then it doesn't matter if the CEO of Goldman Sachs is your golfing partner or not. You are going to be broke.

Lastly, exchanges do not tell you that if you have, or don't have, any money. Exchanges can only tell you that based on the last trades, the assets you own have X value if you can sell them at the last value they sold for.

Let me put it another way. I have a grand marquis. I bought my grand marquis with only 60,000 miles on it, for only $3,000. Meanwhile another person who bought the same car, paid $6,000. How did I get my car for so cheap, while someone else had to pay twice a much?

Easy. I bought my car in 2008, when gas was hitting $4 a gallon. He bought his, in 2010, when gas was half that. When I bought my car, people were freaking out that the evil oil companies which supposedly controlled gas prices, were going to keep driving up the price until it was $8 a gallon.

So the value of a V8 massive luxury land yacht, was low. By 2010 when people saw the gas-Apocalypse wasn't coming, the values came back.

Everything changes in value over time. Everything does. Nothing in this world has 'intrinsic value'. Thus the stock exchange does not lie, or manipulate. They can only tell you want the value of your investment is, based on the last known trade.

But that doesn't mean the value will stay there. If another Enron happens, and they find out that X Corp was fabricating sales data, and you own stock in X Corp, the value of that stock is going to go down.

If the government institutes protectionism, and eliminates imports, and that kills domestic companies, the value of your stock will go down. No value is static.

Most people I know under the age of 70 invest in CHINA; they couldn't give a damn about Brick & Mortar.
NO ONE even knows if the companies in China even exist or are producing a product.
My friend goes to China 4 times a year and India 4 times a year and has SIGNIFICANT issues with production and broken promises.

Yeah. Ok, so what?

Everything you do in this world, is subject to people breaking promises. You can marry a wife, spend your life with her, and she can run off with another man, and leave you wrecked.

You can take your car to a mechanic, and he can break the engine, and leave town. I know someone that this happened to.

There are no guarantees in life. None.

So I don't understand what your point is. So what about broken promises in China? Does that change the fact my stock in Prudential, and Novartis, are both up?

Let me explain how this works.

I do not buy single stocks. No one ever should. You buy mutual funds, and own stocks through mutual funds.

Moreover, you should buy more than one mutual fund. Possibly 4 or 5.

So here is how it works out. If my mutual fund discovers that my stock in say.... Croda International, or Banca Popolare Di Milano, or Hermès International, is not doing so well, or they find the company lied about "brick and mortar" in China.... they sell the stock, on my behalf. And buy stock in companies that have no lied, or are performing better.

See, people like you and me, we don't have the time, or the resources, or even the interest in doing the continuous research, to determine which stocks to buy and sell. Mutual funds on the other hand, that is specifically what they do. I worked for a short time at a pension fund which is basically a mutual fund, only dedicated to a captive customer base. The stock traders were shut away in a glass room, with dozens of monitors on all the walls, with all the major news networks on 24-7, and every computer had the stock tickers running 24-7 of all the major exchanges, and every major news paper was delivered to the room every morning, before they even arrived.

All the traders did, all day long from morning until closing, was read, watch, and learn everything they could, both about the companies whose stocks they owned already, and the stocks of companies they were considering buying.

Since I own stocks through a mutual fund, those guys work for me. So I don't care about some broken promise in China. If it matters, the traders at my mutual fund will read about it, learn about it, research it, and buy, or sell, stocks in response to it.

That's why my investments are up 75% over how much I've put into them, over the past decade. If things keep going as they have been, I'll have literally twice as much money in investments, than how much I've put into my investments, in about 3 years.

If you invested since 2008 your investments are definitely doing well.
The Stock Market is a gambling casino and there are way too many companies out there to audit.
Personally, if your investments are doing well, that's fine.
As long as you don't try to make it sound like any Investment Firms give a damn about whether or not your investment choices make any sense in the real world.
You can thank the US Government for investing and propping up the market.
Just make sure to move your investments to Money Markets before the next crash within the next year.

I started investing in 2004. My investments are doing fantastic.

My investment firm does care.

The only time investment firms don't care, is if you are bound and determined to make bad investments. If you walk in and say "I want to invest in X"... then they are going to help you invest in X, whether they think that is smart or not. Why? Because you are the customer. If you demand to do X, they are the service provider. They'll provide that service.

Now if you ask them "Is investing in X wise?", they'll tell you what they believe is best for you to do.

And again I don't need to audit every company. My mutual fund has full time paid staff to do that. And even they don't audit every company. Only those companies they have stock in, or are considering buying stock in.

The government only needs to enforce justice, and prosecute fraud. I thank them for that. All the government regulations have not been a benefit to the market, or investing. In fact, the very opposite.

No, I'm not going to invest in money markets. Please. Money markets are terrible investments. If I had invested in money markets before 2008, I would not have half the value I do now. Terrible idea.

 

[Andylusion]

A bunch of do nothing, screw the country, greedy ass mf'rs. Go to hell.How much is enough? Fu. You need to be watched and regulated just like a bunch of children so you dont fk the country up...oooops...to late. Class war comin....

Greedy? You do understand that the majority of Americans are invested in stock markets, right? Are the majority of Americans greedy for doing so?

Fk the country? How is investing in businesses, our job creators, fk'ing anyone?

Sounds like someone's simply jealous of success he didn't achieve.

Class war, eh? Try bringing that shit up my driveway.

The majority can barely pay their bills.

Which doesn't change the fact that most people own stock in the market.

If you can't pay your bills, it's likely because you are either not working, or spending too much, and more likely the latter.

Sell the car, buy a beater. Stop eating out. Do you really need a cell phone? Cut the cable TV.

 

[Windship]

Unless your a super rich, your in the sights as well.

 

[Andylusion]

Unless your a super rich, your in the sights as well.

Which explains why more people are able to become super rich in our country, than any other. If you are poor today... you have better chance of becoming the super wealthy in our country, than any other in the world. That's why we have immigrants that come here, and are now part of the super wealthy.

If what you claim was true, then people should be swimming to Cuba, to have a better life, not swimming here from Cuba.