Alchemy Today - Latest Comments in Wow.

Re: Wow.

Ian — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:04:28 -0000

Rupert Murdoch, who now owns Dow Jones, is removing AIG from The Dow Jones Industrial Average. That should send the number UP! Argh, matey!

AIG booted out of the Dow http://tinyurl.com/arghmatey

Re: Wow.

alchemytoday — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:53:13 -0000

Travis: You could also have a loss of 9% if you invested in an S&P 500 index; which is generally recommended for a conservative, diversified mix of stocks.

I'm not saying that a smarter investor wouldn't be better off than zero, but even smart investors, on average, weren't able to beat inflation during Bush's term so far.

Re: Wow.

Travis — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:05:45 -0000

If you were stupid enough to only invest in a DOW index fund or ETF, then you're correct, you wouldn't have any capital gains to pay for the Bush period shown in the graph. However, smart investors diversify beyond just a single index and would likely have substantial capital gains over the same period of time... 5%, 10%, 20%, maybe more depending on your asset allocation. So please do your homework before you try to mislead the educated.