by phaster » Tue 07 Aug 2007, 22:39:23
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'I') have placed most of my investments in an oil eft it has done 20% this year so I am very happy.
I think however the market is going to absolutely tank and we are seeing that beginning right now.
should I get completely out? sell half and hold the rest?
then what should I move my cash into during the melt down?
For what its worth, remember that there have been many doom and gloom prophecies, Y2K, religious cults, etc. and one day it will happen. But past history has lots of counter examples of doom and gloom not happening.
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=9946
Ya also have to keep in mind that like it or not, people can and do follow a heard mentality, just look at fashion trends (in the '70s people wore bell bottom pants, in the '80s lots of people had those "Baby On Board Signs," in the '90's car companies got americans to buy into the concept of the SUV, for example or even better yet look at what's happening in the stock market (at first people looked at dot coms at being in fashion, that bombed, then it was real estate, and that's bombing, etc.)
What seems to work for me, is to look at long term trends, and try and identify sectors that will benefit. For example I'm convinced that global warming and peak oil production will occur, so I looked at ETF's that offer solutions. After the IEA had a report last month that they were projecting higher demand and lower supply in five years, I actually jumped in and bought an "internation" alternative energy ETF (or "electronic traded fund") based on a broad index
www.ardourglobalindexes.com/indexes_agixl.php
the exact ETF I've found is
www.vaneck.com/index.cfm?cat=3192&tkr=GEX
a few weeks ago. Althought I've lost a couple of percentage points since I bought in, I'm not going to sweat it, because I figure over time alternative energy will only become more main stream.
I know the PE ratio for alt energy stock are high, but I have a friend who manages money for people with lots and lots of money, and I've heard him say, more than once, "the trend is your friend" meaning, people are irrational and will keep on buying stocks like "aapl" or "goog" till something better comes around.
On thing I've trained myself to do, is not get emotional about a subject. For example if ya spend time in the back country alone, or have taken survival training, one thing that's ya learn is if ya panic, ya die.
Personally, I'd say stick with your oil ETC, cause its a broad based bet, in a sector that will not diminish in demand, and although the value of your investment may have gone down these past few week, long term oil prices will only go up, and share prices too cause lots of oil companies are buying back their shares. Personally I don't think that is a very good idea in terms of wise use of money, cause its not being used to invest in technology that could potentially solve the issues of global warming or peak oil, but that's just my own opinion...