Investing All-in-One For Dummies. Eric Tyson. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Eric Tyson
Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Личные финансы
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781119873051
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100 people, on average, who die on the road every day.

      Then there’s the issue of control. Flying seems more dangerous to some folks because the pilots are in control of the plane, whereas in your car, you can at least be at the steering wheel. Of course, you can’t control what happens around you or mechanical problems with the mode of transportation you’re using.

      This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t drive or fly or that you shouldn’t drive to the airport. However, you may consider steps you can take to reduce the significant risks you expose yourself to in a car. For example, you can get a car with more safety features, and you can choose to drive less aggressively and to minimize riding as a passenger with poor drivers.

      Although some people like to live life to its fullest and take “fun” risks (how else can you explain mountain climbers, parachutists, and bungee jumpers?), most people seek to minimize risk and maximize enjoyment in their lives. The vast majority of people also understand that they’d be a lot less happy living a life in which they sought to eliminate all risks, and they likely wouldn’t be able to do so anyway.

      

Likewise, if you attempt to avoid all the risks involved in investing, you likely won’t succeed, and you likely won’t be happy with your investment results and lifestyle. In the investment world, some people don’t go near stocks or any investment that they perceive to be volatile. As a result, such investors often end up with lousy long-term returns and expose themselves to some high risks that they overlooked, such as the risk of having inflation and taxes erode the purchasing power of their money.

      Market-value risk

      Although the stock market can help you build wealth, most people recognize that it can also drop substantially — by 10, 20, or 30 percent (or more) in a relatively short period of time. That’s an example of market-value risk — that is, the risk that the value of an investment can decline.

      Check out these historic stock market drops:

       2020: After hitting a new all-time high in February 2020, the U.S. stock market got clobbered by COVID-19–related concerns and containment measures that impeded people’s travel and other activities and ended up leading to a sharp, short-term recession. In a little over one month, from peak to bottom, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 36 percent.

       2008: After a multi-year rebound, stocks peaked in 2007, and then dropped sharply during the “financial crisis” of 2008. From peak to bottom, U.S. and global stocks dropped by 50-plus percent.

       2002: After peaking in 2000, U.S. stocks, as measured by the large-company S&P 500 index, dropped about 50 percent by 2002. Stocks on the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted toward technology stocks, plunged more than 76 percent from 2000 through 2002!

       1998: In a mere six weeks (from mid-July 1998 to early September 1998), large-company U.S. stocks fell about 20 percent. An index of smaller-company U.S. stocks dropped 33 percent over a slightly longer period of two and a half months.

       1987: The U.S. stock market plunged 36 percent in a matter of weeks. On October 19, 1987, now known as Black Monday, the Dow Jones fell 508 points, the largest percentage drop in one day at that time.

      Real estate exhibits similar unruly, annoying tendencies. Although real estate (like stocks) has been a terrific long-term investment, various real estate markets get clobbered from time to time.

Period Size of Fall
1929–1932 89% (ouch!)
2007–2009 55%
1937–1942 52%
1906–1907 49%
1890–1896 47%
1919–1921 47%
1901–1903 46%
1973–1974 45%
1916–1917 40%
2000–2002 39%
2020 36%

       * As measured by changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Average

      Declining U.S. housing prices in the mid- to late 2000s garnered unprecedented attention. Some folks and pundits acted like it was the worst housing market ever. Foreclosures increased in part because of buyers who financed their home purchases with risky mortgages. Keep in mind that housing market conditions vary by area. For example, some portions of the Pacific Northwest and South actually appreciated during the mid- to late 2000s, while other markets experienced substantial declines.

      After reading this section, you may want to keep all your money in the bank — after all, you know you won’t lose your money, and you won’t have to be a nonstop worrier. Since the FDIC came into existence in 1933, no one has lost 20, 40, 60, or 80 percent of their bank-held savings vehicle within a few years (major losses prior to then did happen, though). But just letting your money sit around would be a mistake.

If you pass up the stock and real estate markets simply because of the potential market-value risk, you miss out on a historic, time-tested method of building substantial wealth. Instead of seeing declines and market corrections as horrible things, view them as potential opportunities or “sales.” Try not to give in to the human emotions that often scare people away from buying something that others seem to be shunning.

      Later in this chapter, you find out about the generous returns that stocks and real estate as well as other investments have historically provided. The following