The Stock Market Takes Another Dive - Steer Clear ?

Radiantsoul

The relentless IFA bashing is pretty dull. IFAs remind me of estate agents or football agents. It is easy to criticise their role - drumming up house prices or transfer prices, but the real reason for high transfer and house prices is far more complex.

Equally we could all sell our own houses in the small ad column or produce a DVDs of our finest goals and post it out to Accrington Stanley. But most people are prepared to for someone else to do these things for them and to hold their hand through the process.

1echidna

Radiantsoul wrote: »

The relentless IFA bashing is pretty dull. IFAs remind me of estate agents or football agents. It is easy to criticise their role - drumming up house prices or transfer prices, but the real reason for high transfer and house prices is far more complex.

Equally we could all sell our own houses in the small ad column or produce a DVDs of our finest goals and post it out to Accrington Stanley. But most people are prepared to for someone else to do these things for them and to hold their hand through the process.

People put blood, sweat and tears into building up reserves of money. It is no wonder they are concerned when these are dissipated, for whatever reason and whoever is to blame.

JohnRo

Radiantsoul wrote: »

The relentless IFA bashing is pretty dull.

Indeed.

Radiantsoul wrote: »

Equally we could all sell our own houses in the small ad column or produce a DVDs of our finest goals and post it out to Accrington Stanley. But most people are prepared to for someone else to do these things for them and to hold their hand through the process.

It's not about hand holding, it is about efficiency and time.

If someone is happy spending most of their time studying and managing their own DIY investments then good for them.

For those who prefer to do other things in their spare time or just don't want to become amateur investment managers, studying, learning and spending much of their time pouring over financial matters there is the IFA option.

There are also shades of grey in between, it isn't just an either or situation.

I really don't understand why there is any argument to be had, you simply make your choice, pay your money and live with it.

Radiantsoul

1echidna wrote: »

People put blood, sweat and tears into building up reserves of money. It is no wonder they are concerned when these are dissipated, for whatever reason and whoever is to blame.

There is not really a riskless asset class though. I guess government index gilts might come close, but even they have some risks.

Cash suffers from inflation risk which are material over a five year plus timescale.

jimjames

GeorgeHowell wrote: »

At a time when the financial products industry will be pulling out the stops to get people to buy cash and non-cash ISAs the FTSE100 is back in the 5600s. Allegedly this is due to the latest twitchiness over the Euro fiasco. But perhaps it shows how a sea-change in factors affecting the stock market has arisen over the past 10-20 years with computerisation and globalisation causing volatility and a bearish tendency like never before.

After 7 pages which seem to have switched from questioning the wisdom of share based investments to bashing IFAs and fund managers, George in particular seems to be missing what the stock market actually is - a place to buy and sell shares in COMPANIES.

Blaming IFAs or fund managers for stock markets rising and falling seems rather bizarre as it is something that happens all the time. In 1973/4 the UK stock market lost 73% of its value and it must have seemed pretty bleak at the time. But things recovered and I think it is worth viewing the current situation in a similar way.

Long term all the market is doing is measuring the value that it puts on individual companies. If you are a communist and think that these companies should not exist or make a profit then clearly the stock market is not for you. But if you believe that long term companies that produce goods and services that people want to buy will continue to prosper and increase profits which increases their value then it is worth investing in those companies. The actual companies will change as time goes by - if you look at the FTSE100 in 1970s (actually FTSE30 as 100 didn't exist) it will be very different to now but new companies and technologies startup and prosper all the time which is reflected by the companies in the index but they will build value along the way.

1echidna

Oil buyers cut more Iran imports due to sanctions

LIB3RTY

I couldn't help myself today. Been scalping AAPL. I can't wait for this stock to crash back down to sensible levels.

sabretoothtigger

In 1973/4 the UK stock market lost 73% of its value

I take it we were in middle of getting bailed from IMF ala Greece

kar999

There's some heavyweight bashing posts in here......

As someone said earlier, there isn't really any investment that doesn't carry risk, even cash is at the mercy of inflation and interest rates (or burglars if you stuff it under your matress.)

Personally, equities/funds (active and passive even after charges) held in my PEPs and then ISAs have provided me with an excellant return second only to the value of the roof over my head. And property has certainly had it's ups and downs of late. Cash would be well down on the return scale.

I invested in equities knowing the risks and was always in it for the long haul i.e. 30 years +. I took some basic IFA advice 30 years ago as part of my mortgage/pension planning but do all my own research/selection now.

The OP questions whether we should steer clear of the markets because of the current dip. I personally view this (minor) dip as just another part of the many market oscillations I've seen over the past decades.

To me it's a buying opportunity for the right stock selection. Others might see today as the right time to buy gold, property or index linked savings.... who kmows?

If we knew with certainty what the future held in store we wouldn't be posting on here... we'd be paying a man servant to do it for us whilst we sipped cocktails in the Caymen Islands.

You takes your money and makes your investment choice.

1echidna

Japan cuts oil purchases from Iran by 77% in April