Revisiting The Dark Days

It so turns out that every stock purchase that I made during the stock market lows over the past few months has appreciated considerably higher. A quick glimpse at the stocks I follow shows that the stocks have appreciated between 48% and 837% from their 52 week lows but most are still a far cry away from their 52 week high.

Basically, I could have bought anything back then and made lots of money.

During the dark days most investors were keen on selling or staying out of the messy market. Those who took risks have made a lot of money. Others stopped contributing to their 401(k)'s and now that the market has turned up they will resume. It seems that buy high and sell low is a natural instinct.

As usual I am kicking myself for not going 100% into the stock market. Even though I've made money from the bounce, I left 40% of my cash on the table.

I doubt if we will see such a buying opportunity soon, but who knows what the future holds. I think the biggest threat to the stock market is the US dollar and any ensuing inflation.

For these reasons, I am overweight on emerging markets and I'm still holding on to my Oil and Gold. What's interesting is that Oil was the last sector to turn green in my portfolio though I've been getting 12% monthly dividends which I have not been counting as part of my gains.

That said, I think this is a good year for anyone wanting to buy real estate. Prices have never been this low, sellers are desperate and interest rates have fallen to attractive levels.

The down side is that the job market has not stabilized but in the long run, real estate buyers will be thankful that they took the risk.