July 15, 2011, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Why I’m lightening up on stocks for good
Commentary: Uncertain future makes equities look much riskier
By Howard Gold
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — My thinking has changed a lot over the last few months.
I began to get bullish last summer, just before Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announced the second round of the Fed’s “quantitative easing” program. Stocks and other risky assets took off, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 index up 30% to its April 29 high.
But since mid-April, I’ve become increasingly nervous and skeptical because of seasonal factors and a lot of fundamental obstacles to the markets’ advance.
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Obviously I’ve had a good run and don’t want to push my luck. But more importantly I’ve been looking at some research that defies the conventional wisdom that investors should keep a lot of stock in their portfolios even as they age, because only stocks protect investors against inflation and outliving their nest eggs.
That concept — the need to hold a lot of stock at all stages of life — may be the single most wrong-headed idea in investing now. Retirees who took the advice of many financial planners had 60% to 70% of their assets in stocks when the financial crisis hit. Those who couldn’t hold on may have suffered irreparable losses.
Full story: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-im-lightening-up-on-stocks-for-good-2011-07-15?link=home_carousel
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
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