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+--- Thread: Economy is Better than Many Think (/showthread.php?tid=643)
Economy is Better than Many Think - Kerim - 08-15-2014
This is a pretty fascinating (though very high level) article explaining that the economy is in much better shape than most people think.
There are lots of interesting points in here. My favorite is the attempted explanation for the disconnect -- we're dealing with the fallout from a long series of crises and shocks and we live in far less certain times than before 2000.
But the shocker to me was this:
Quote:Last year, the stock market, using the S&P 500 as a proxy, rose by more than 30 percent, but only 7 percent of investors realized it. In fact, 30 percent of those surveyed believed that the markets were either flat or went down. And these are investors, people who are putting their money in the markets and have money to invest—already a rather privileged slice of the population. Yet that cohort was widely off the mark about how stocks have performed.
This must be a result of huge numbers of passive / 401k investors who really know nothing about the market. But 30 percent of "investors" thought the market was down last year?? Wow.
RE: Economy is Better than Many Think - Roadmap2Retire - 08-15-2014
Hmm the link is dead. Maybe Slate moved the page.
Probably a good way to invest for most people who do not have the time and try to overanalyze and time the market. Also, dont forget the buybacks - 2013 saw the highest amount of buybacks from the corporations. This, I think, was a huge contribution to the fantastic stock market returns.