[Azred]

Originally Posted by John D Harris The news and talking head are out in force waxing about how the world has lost $4trillion in the markets over the last week... It's all on paper. This is what I mean by we are living in a preception is reality bubble. The only people who lost anything were people who sold, people who let the preception overide the reality. Yes the preceived value of the stocks I own is currently less then it was a week ago, but I still OWN the stocks, I have lost anything until I sell, I ain't selling, so I ain't lost squat. I still have the same number of stocks in a company that pays dividens, I'll still get the dividens.

That is because you are in the markets for the long term instead of the short term. The people who consistently lose are the ones who try to micromanage their investments on a daily basis, trying to maximize their daily gains buy buying and selling that day's "hot tips" or "trending now" stocks. The long-term result of investing is growth and a 4.2% return every year for 10 years is better than 50% return now. (check it for yourself: 1.042^10 > 1.50)