I think it was in October, when the Dow was swinging wildly, hundreds of points at a time? I had some Dow Jones tracking site open on my computer, and every time I refreshed it was very different.

The main thing is not to panic, don't sell. It's the supposed professionals who are creating this nonsense. Of course all those who think anyone who invests in the stock market are fools are going to be gloating.

Literally. I don't even get the concept. If any of my securities cut dividends I'll have to consider selling, but I'm only in companies that have a history of not doing that.

is the best thing to do. If you've been selecting companies carefully, your investments are probably very safe. You don't need to care very much about the stock price, just that you keep getting the income you want.

My investments are professionally managed, and I have a lot of faith in my adviser. I've been with him over ten years, and my money has grown, I am able to take out an income. A few months ago the last time the market took any sort of a hit, he called me to make sure I wasn't panicking. Nope. But he apparently had clients who were.

I worry a hell of a lot more that people will actually believe that Social Security is insolvent and go along with actual cuts. That would hurt me (and lots of others) much more in the long run.

See what I mean?

Dow jumps up almost 500 points in the last hour.

They forced us all from pensions to 401K's for retirement then we get screwed every time the market crashes.

Every loss has to be made up again and that is time spent making up that could have been gains.

I agree that is often the case, but there is no guarantee it will happen soon enough for many.

I never understood the alternate view, personally.

So this is actually great news for people my age.

I switched jobs 2 months ago, my old 401k rolled over in all cash last month. I have kept it in cash and with some "end of the world" type buy orders placed with schwab... 4 of them filled today when it was down 1K points. Already all are back up 5%. Now I say its lucky because unless you are an insider, or have access to the high frequency trading machines, timing is luck. Dollar cost averaging, as you were saying earlier, is just sound investing for the long term.

as soon as the Fed free money stopped flowing.

We all know a rate hike is coming, but stocks still trade (until today) like that wasn't the case.

This may be the sound of the dead cat landing...