mwalsh Loc: Houston

Uh, you might check the charts on that one...

SteveR Loc: Michigan

The DOW was at 14 at the beginning of the recession. Although it was at 18 when Obamma left office, it actually took that long to recoup our losses. My CFP was not a market timer, and despite my hesitancy to ride it out, he convinced me to do so. I should have trusted my instincts and sold at 11 because I knew it was going to continue to go down. I eventually switched and went into Index Funds. For the most part I'm happy with that, but the company has a number of pre-designed portfolios and you pick which one is best for your needs. The downside to that is that they don't employ stock brokers who can actually answer sophisticated questions. The company does have close to a billion dollars in investments. Their program seems to work. By not having annual evaluations of each portfolio, etc., they save a lot of cost which is reflected in their fee. Combined between the company and Schwab we pay about .40 plus the charges of the funds. Previously I was paying 1 percent plus the charges of the funds.

steve03 Loc: long Lsland

the market has been on a rise for 7 years

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/09/investing/stocks-bull-market-turns-seven/index.html

mwalsh Loc: Houston

That was my subtle (sarcastic) point.

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

Unfortunately you chose to stick with your CFP's recommend investments.

In my case, I've always chosen a very agressive selection of funds, which provided a good return for me.

Unfortunately I'm no longer with any if those employers, and the one remaining 401K had to be rolled over into an IRA. That one I haven't take the time to diversify yet.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Yeah, its Obama's doing.

jcboy3

Trump had it hidden in one of those red Staples buttons. Our problem will be when he gets confused (more confused?) and forgets, and needs more copy paper.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

You sound like a canny investor. My wife and I both have mandatory private superannuation funds, invested in who knows what. My main financial strategy has been being debt free since 1991. We doubled our money on our first and only mortgage in the late 80s. With the profits we bought a 2.4 hectare bush block 1 hour from Brisbane. We saved enough to build to lockup. I took a job to earn enough to finish. The house and shed have been paying real dividends every week since 1991. I ran a cabinetmaking/ furniture making business, not paying rent on business premises or servicing a mortgage is a major advantage! I'm too old now to make a wild financial blunder. The safest share/stock bet in Australia would be Coles and Woolworths. The two of them control almost 80% of fuel, grog and food sales here. Most likely our super is partially in those companies.