•Losing money in the market?
There has never been any honest-to-God guarantees that come once you decide to invest some of your money into the stock markets. And there never will be.
That’s because, in the broadest sense, as stocks trade hands during every trading day of the year profits and loses are chalked up in all individual and professional account ledgers.
With that reality in mind, Barbara Friedberg penned a piece titled “Why People Lose Money in the Market” that appeared at TheBalance.com recently.
According to this former portfolio manager turned author, the three reasons people lose money are:
-Because they don’t understand economic and investment cycles.
-Because they let their emotions drive their investing.
-And because they think investing is a get-rich-quick scheme.
Got that?
-
Market Quick Glance
The major indices closed up during the past week. And that’s the good news.
What’s the bad? Who knows. The bull that has been running wild on Wall Street for the last eight years seems to be some kind of anchored. And until the future provides us with a look at the past, we won’t know for sure what does this bully in.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results— including the dates each has reached new highs. All this according to data from CNBC.com. and based upon market results at the close of business for the week ending on Friday, July 7, 2017.
-DJIA + 8.36% YTD up from last week’s +8.03%
- 1 yr Rtn +19.66% up from last week’s 19.07%
The DJIA reached a new all-time high on July 3,2017 of 21,562.75.
(Previous highs include 21,535.03 on June 20, 2017; 21,391.97 reached on June 14, 2017; 21,305.35 on June 9, 2017; 21,225.04 on June 2, 2017; and 21,169.11 on March 1, 2017.)
-S&P 500 +8.32% YTD up from last week’s 8.24%
- 1yr Rtn +15.60% up from last week’s +15.46%
The S&P 500 reached a new all-time high of 2,453.82 on June 19,2017.
(The previous high of 2,446.2 was reached on June 9, 2017. Before that 2,440.23 was reached on June 2, 2017; 2,418.71 reached on May 25, 2017; 2,405.77 reached on May 16, 2017; 2403.87 on May 9, 2017; 2,400.98 reached on March 1, 2017.)
-NASDAQ +14.307% YTD up from last week’s +14.07%
- 1yr Rtn +26.17% down from last week’s 26.80%
The Nasdaq reached a new all-time high of 6,341.7 on June 9, 2017.
(Previous highs include: 6,308.76 on June 2; 6,217.34 reached on May 25; 6,170,16 on May 16; 6,133 on May 9, 2017; 6102.72 on May 2, 2017; 6074.04 on April 28, 2017; and 5,936.39 on April 5, 2017.)
-Russell 2000 +4.33% YTD up from last week’s +4.29%
- 1yr Rtn +23.14% up from last week’s +22.87%
The Russell 2000 reached its latest all-time high of 1,433.789 on June 9, 2017.
(Previous highs include 1,425.7 reached on April 26, 2017 and of 1,414,82 reached on March 1, 2017.)
-Mutual funds
Equity funds lost ground last week as, at the close of business on Thursday, July 6, 2017, the year-to-date total return for the average U.S. Diversified Equity Funds stood at 6.95%. That’s down from the previous week’s close of 7.52%.
Looking back over the last 52 weeks (7/7/16 thru 7/6/17), the three fund types under this broad heading that have rewarded their shareholders the most include: Equity Leverage Funds +33.39%; Small-Cap Value Fund, ++21.06%; Small-Cap Growth Funds, +20.87%.
The three fund types experiencing the poorest returns over that same time period were: Dedicated Short-Bias Funds, -23.22%; Alternative Equity Market Neutral Funds, +0.90%; and Specialty Diversified Equity Funds, +4.30%.
Visit www.allaboutfunds.com for more information about how various equity and fixed-income funds have rewarded investors over the short-and long-term, based upon Lipper data. Short-term meaning weekly and monthly performance returns; longer-term includes quarterly, year-to-date, 1-yr, 2-yr, 3-yr and 5-yr returns.
-
Got stocks?
The market has been roaring this year but that doesn’t mean everyone has participated in the bounty. In fact, according to a 2016 Gallup Poll, just over half (52%) of American adults say that they had money invested in the stock market.
That’s down from a high of 65% in 2007.
It ought to come as no surprise that those who make up the middle-class and who were in the market prior to the crash of 2007 have stayed away from it in recent years.
On another kinda sorta related subject, the American Bankers Association Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin has reported that in the first quarter of 2017 there was an increase in late payments for car, truck, home equity and credit card loans/debts.
Guess if you don’t have enough cash to meet your monthly expenses/commitments it’s not likely that you’ll have enough to invest in the market.
-30-
allaboutfundsdotcom 