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    BrtStlndHamilton Nolan
    8/26/13 4:50pm

    Here's another way to look at the same information, which is mentioned in the Bloomberg article but not here. This is the average P/E ratio of the S&P 500 going back to its beginning:

    Current S&P 500 PE Ratio: 18.89 -0.08 (-0.40%)
    4:35 pm EDT, Mon Aug 26
    Mean:15.50
    Median:14.51
    Min:5.31(Dec 1917)
    Max:123.79(May 2009)
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      RandomBurnerAccountBrtStlnd
      8/26/13 5:36pm

      And the lesson is...buy when the PE multiple is at its highest. If you had bought in May 2009, you would have made a lot of money.

      Right?

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      UKStory135RandomBurnerAccount
      8/26/13 5:53pm

      The be fair. May 2009 was the last month of the official recession.

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    A. Nonie MeusHamilton Nolan
    8/26/13 4:59pm

    I have a bunch of different retirement accounts and I have been really excited at how well they've done in the past couple years. Even my quasi-pension from the state government job I had for a while earned something like 11% in 2012. I know I won't need any of this money for another 40 years but I can't help being happy that the funds are doing well now.

    And I just think, how many times will I watch this money go down the toilet between now and my retirement? I started saving seriously just as the economy tanked the last time, so I've never really experienced that thing where you have a big wad of money and then suddenly you don't have 75% of it anymore. I don't want that.

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      KumquatRodeoA. Nonie Meus
      8/26/13 5:12pm

      If you're diversified, it's unlikely you'll lose 75%. In any event, the key is to not panic. Get out of the market or stay in, but do so in a well thought out process. If you are getting out during a downturn, do so because it makes sense to cut your losses and wait out the rest of the downturn, not because of panic. If you stay in, do so because you know the market will recover in plenty of time for you to retire, in which case just shrug your shoulders and keep on about your daily life. No need to get too worked up about it. (At least this approach has worked for me.)

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      A. Nonie MeusKumquatRodeo
      8/26/13 6:49pm

      I'll see what I can do to get my pension fund to diversify.

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    Excited_UtteranceHamilton Nolan
    8/26/13 5:27pm

    More evidence: "US we have a problem and its name is durable goods"

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/100987737

    S&P may well be rallying because there's confidence in the taper for whatever reason. But then you notice that nobody can buy anything (both durable goods and housing) and boy, that is just not good news, regardless of how much confidence some investors have.

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      RandomBurnerAccountExcited_Utterance
      8/26/13 5:49pm

      And yet, durable goods were up 3.9% last month.

      And down 5.7% in March.

      And up 4.6% in January.

      Hmm...it's almost as if it's a volatile data series and you shouldn't read too much into one month regardless of whether it's good or bad...

      Nah, fuck that. Let's all panic.

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    iElvis Found Trump's Tax Returns Too Late to Save GawkerHamilton Nolan
    8/26/13 5:01pm

    Just in time for the House GOP to play another round of Debt Limit Chicken over Obamacare.

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      hayesmpiElvis Found Trump's Tax Returns Too Late to Save Gawker
      8/26/13 5:43pm

      And impeachment roulette..?

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