People tend to get all bound up over the stock market dropping. Well if you are ready to cash it in and need the money that could be a bad thing but if a person is that close to needing some money they should have some set aside already anyway and not have it all in stocks (close to retirement and ready to start withdrawals). If you are a trader and end up on the wrong side of the stick it could be bad but a good trader will just short it and make money anyway (or so the theory goes), will they not? People forget that the stock market, if you truly are an investor and not a speculator, is a long term investment. They see their portfolios drop 10 or 20% and get all panicky. It's done that to me at least twice since I have been investing and within a couple or three years it is back on track and went even higher yet.

Anyone who is not near retirement should wish the stock market does retract some periodically. If you are investing through a 401K or any other regular investment, it just means your dollar is going to buy more shares.

Me? I'm jumping for joy and hope it drops a bunch more. I'm hauling beans and corn to town, and even though it was sold earlier and not bringing what it would today, it still is higher than I have ever sold grain. And I still have some to sell. The stocks I sold over the last two years (at very high prices) to fund a major farm expansion is now going to get put back in the account to replenish most or all of what was taken out as the grain sales hits the bank account, and guess what? Im buying my stocks back at a much lower price. I expected it to take several years to be able to replenish those funds but thanks to record crop prices it's only going to take about one or maybe two years. It just doesn't get much better than this.

Anyone who wants stocks to be high priced is either someone who needs to sell or doesn't have their head screwed on right. You want to BUY things on SALE. So unless you are at retirement age, it is to your great benefit, for stocks to stay reasonably priced, if you are a regular investor or have a lump sum to invest. So what if your IRA takes a 20% dump? As long as you don't panic and jump out of it when the stocks hit bottom (a very common mistake), it will come back. Stocks are going to follow the economy. If the American economy permanently tanks then stocks will too. If the economy comes back in a couple years, stocks will too.

By and large the general public doesn't have a clue about the stock market. Its the only market I know of where people fall all over themselves to buy things that are overpriced.....and shun it when everything is on sale.....well maybe fashion clothes or some other high priced stuff I don't understand why people buy at all .........you want to buy stocks when they are cheap and the only time you really want them to be high is when it is time to sell, and when you sell is controlled by you, not by the market. You get to pick when you want to sell, the market can't force you to sell when prices are cheap.

Most people are seeing lemons. I see lemonade.

John