It’s easy to be pessimistic about the stock market, watching it fall and fall even farther these days. But it’s smarter just to watch it go down in the expectation of discovering when it finally finds the bottom of the current descent. That will be the time to buy good stocks at low prices undreamt of in a lifetime. For one thing is pretty certain: the market will go back up again, and losers now could be gainers in the future. The only question is when to start buying again?
ADDENDUM: Meanwhile, as the Seablogger advises: "Be patient. Hold fast."
UPDATE: Some obviously were buying in the historic, Oct. 13 rally. Remains to be seen if this is the end of the free-fall.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
No, there are more questions than one.
-which stocks to buy?
-what if the markets will not go back as in the past – because in the past the State didn’t own insurance Cos or banks and now it does?
-stocks that have been considered solid for years might become obsolete simply due to advances in technology
-in energy sector, potentially fig earner, a lot depends on federal regulation – would you risk gambling on it?
Etc etc
Walk on the sunny side. If the market (ours, not theirs) doesn’t go back up, it’s over. But that’s very unlikely. Bubbles have burst before. This one is unusually bad but not catastrophically so, I don’t think. Microsoft is a good choice. Also Dell. Johnson & Johnson. Probably not General Motors. I would vote for any big oil company. Getting out of bed is a gamble.
Oh boy. If I only knew 10% of the answers to this riddle…
Well, you know which quality companies (aerospace, biotech, computer hardware and software) have been around forever and, therefore, are likely to continue to be profitable. Certainly be helpful to stay away from mortgage companies and banks for a while.
Well, you know which quality companies (aerospace, biotech, computer hardware and software) have been around forever and, therefore, are likely to continue to be profitable. Certainly be helpful to stay away from mortgage companies and banks for a while.