Either the best decision,... or worst decision....

[HAL9000]

What a fun week it's been... I found out on Tuesday, that at the end of the month, I'm out of a job due to restructuring because of the economy... but I'm still dumping in my new kitchen with new appliances at the end of the month... and now for the big one... I just dumped $5K into the stock market... hopefully in the long run, it will pay out.

[Kasturi]

Sorry to hear about the job loss.

My wife dumped 5000 into the market about 1-2 months ago. I wish we would have waited a little longer.

She is down a good 40% in her investments.


I am contemplating if we should put more in. This has got to end sometime. Right?????

[edfair]

Yeah , it will end. But there are always a lot of people who dump into a falling market then get nervous and pull it back out at a loss.

The normal market upturn is around 6 months before the economy turns around. And the projections now are late 2009 or 2010 for the economy, so I would suspect that it is 4 to 10 months too early to do anything other than an almost guaranteed sure bet. Right now, I don't think there is anything like a sure bet.

[HAL9000]

I know it goes up and down... but today, I'm $700 ahead... I'm looking long term though.

[MaxRat]

who did you buy into Hal...? if I may ask...

I was thinking of going in on something like Intel or someone who'll be around...

as long as you ride it out and went with a known good company that wont go under you should be fine...you dont really lose any money unless you pull out at the loss...

I just did a job for a contractor who knows someone who lost 3 Mil at back 3 months ago and is starting slowly to get some of it back....that would be a hard one to see...

Sorry to hear about the job....we've been really slow here....

last word was my city was 21% un-employment rate and the outskirts are at 16% UR...way higher than the NA...

[HAL9000]

To be honest... I would rather not say what I invested in only because I want to avoid hard feelings if somebody decides to jump the bandwagon and then it doesn't pan out.

The good thing though is that for this recession... Saskatchewan is the place to be... we're still booming and the forcast is that by the time the recession starts to hit us, it "should" be over. I'm not thinking I'm going to be out of work for long. Others that lost their jobs a few weeks ago are working already.

[David M]

I would pick an ETF over an individual stock. I own a few right now. There are companies out there which which are making money, have low PE's and pay dividends...all is not hopeless. I think we are close to capitulation.

[doubledragon5]

Sorry to hear about the job Dave. Worse come to worse, you can go back to working on computers for a little while, until something better comes up..

[HAL9000]

Well, I'm trying to avoid that... oddly, the place I left is hiring full time... but I'm not ready to go back to that again.

[juppy]

Sorry you're losing your job, Dave. Hopefully you can find something soon. I know around here, our job market tanked about November of last year. Our newspaper used to have 3 or 4 full rows of job listings....now they're doing good if they've got 8 or 10 jobs total.....not even a full row. And most of those are medical-related stuff. I'm beginning to think I should've taken nursing in college instead of electronics.

[HAL9000]

I'm not too concerned... submitted my resume for another major bank just this past Sunday evening, got a call this afternoon for two possible positions.... and to top it off... I'm up two grand on my invenstment.

[juppy]

Cool. Hopefully that new job will be a good one if you do get it. Good luck!

[doubledragon5]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I'm not too concerned... submitted my resume for another major bank just this past Sunday evening, got a call this afternoon for two possible positions.... and to top it off... I'm up two grand on my invenstment.

You could pass some of that investment luck my way.

[jdeb]

that is good news hal9000, I am sure you are going to be just fine. Love your posts

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 You could pass some of that investment luck my way.

Don't know how to pass the luck, just the tip... buy low, sell high

As for the interview... it was a preliminary screening done over the phone... I passed.. just have to wait for my info to be passed to the HR department here in Regina and then get the call.

[kstatefan40]

I wish you the best of luck, my friend.

[inflames988]

you picked a good week to jump in on the investing. I don't think it will hold up though - I'm still all in on CD's for now. One matured last month but I didn't bother to renew - currently CD interest rates are worse then savings accounts. Looks like the fed is trying to push people back into the markets. Obama was pumping stocks from the perspective of a "long-term" investment the other day, but I'm skeptical that we will go anywhere significant over the next year or year and a half. That being said, I dont doubt for a second that select companies will see big gains - anyone who reports good earnings in this economy is going to get some attention. I had my eye on SWHC (Smith & Wesson) but didn't buy in, and there stock popped pretty big the other day with their new earnings report. Oh well, I'm gonna stick this one out from the sidelines

[HAL9000]

Well, I'm probably looking at holding in for at least 2 years.. if not 5+

Went on the appliance spending spree today... all top of the line Maytag French Door fridge (bottom freezer), over the counter stove, microwave range and dishwasher.

[TimPoet]

Sorry to hear about your job loss and glad your investment is doing well and that you have some good new job leads, Dave. I like your winning attitude....