+1!!!Cortopassi wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:05 am Sophie, you know better than anyone that so much of this is psychology. "New record highs" are, and have been, touted so often on the news, and drops explained away with having isolated specific reasons, it leaves one with the fear of missing out. There is never a time to not be in the markets, according to 98% of any financial reporter and analysts, because it is their job to keep you in. Earning estimates get tweaked quietly along the way so companies rarely do not beat estimates. And so on.
You don't hear about the S&P dead period between 2000 and 2013. All you hear about is the incredible rise from the low point in 2009.
Conversely, you don't hear about the great run gold had from 2000-2011, you hear about it still being down from the peak in 2011.
If you think about it, it is amazingly one sided. Virtually any news outlet that reports market information as a short segment only ever shows Dow, S&P and Nasdaq. Completely ignoring bonds even though it is a much larger market, rarely touching the dollar and currencies, and almost never on precious metals.
Better to tune it out and stick with something you can live with!
I don't really know why stocks have been blessed as the "gold standard" of the investing world. Historically, gold and real estate have fulfilled that role, like the Talmud recommends. Maybe it's just because stocks are so much more suited to investing ADHD than gold or bonds, and lots more fun to report on the news.
In traditional societies like India, China, and the Middle East, gold is still the traditional store of wealth. I think part of gold's runup in the 2000's was due to increased wealth in those countries (probably largely from US importing and outsourcing) leading to increased gold purchases. A friend from Iran who maintains a very traditional lifestyle here in the U.S. will only invest in gold bars. She buys them from a dealer in an Middle Eastern ethnic neighborhood where everyone is doing the same thing. She says she doesn't trust the stock market, considers it something relatively new and non-traditional, and therefore not safe.