Is anyone here investing new money into the stock market right now?

Sounds like you're trading and not investing for the long term at all. Why not take your own advice and stay in for the long term? If your holding for the long term, you shouldn't be worried about daily swings because you have purchased solid companies that will do well over time, correct? Up 45% on one stock and down 8% on another. Not bad, but I hope that you are an excellent stock picker and that your streak can continue. Do you think that we're in for a prolonged recession? Maybe you know something that can inform the rest of us? Perhaps you are expecting something to come up because you "may have to pull that plan and sell soon"?

Humans are indeed funny creatures. Many of us breath a big sigh of relief when the Markets rally for a while. It doesn't mean that we should become complacent and think that the worst is now over. The U.S. government is trying very hard to convince investors that we are at the "bottom" of the market because they find themselves at the edge of the precipice after spending a lot of money, that they didn't have in the first place, to take measures that haven't worked. Here's an interesting article that you might want to read if you have some time: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2008/11/13/tarp-and-fed-facilities-unravel/ There are a large number of "analysts" that are openly calling current market levels "the bottom". I get nervous when stated opinions get so one sided. Especially if they come from officials that have been wrong time and time again. The bottom has been called several times already, and anyone who has held on has been burned badly. The G20 meeting is coming up this weekend, and George Bush and the American administration will need some cover in order to strengthen a weakened hand during negotiations. Markets are up a bit, so perhaps some space has been created. This pattern has played out many times already with usually poorer results in the long-term for the U.S. and their initiatives. The American officials really do not want to change and that's why you hear comments like "the global financial crisis is not a failure of the free market" from George Bush. Germany entered into technical recession yesterday, with larger than expected GDP declines of 0.5%. France, Italy and the entire Euro zone are expected to follow Germany into recession today. A masterful job has been done with the saturation of the media saying "if we are in recession", while completely ignoring reality on the ground. All our economies are in recession right now, make no mistake of that. Australia might not have it as bad as other, but last time I looked, Australia was a commodity economy. The collapse of commodity prices and cutbacks in activity by developed and developing nations lowers demand for commodities, no? A similar thing is going on in Canada and the government here is now talking about selling assets to avoid or lesson deficit spending. Isn't Australia an island? Australia doesn't import anything? How's the Aussie dollar doing right now? Please don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I know nothing about you. I am perfectly happy to see people buying. Please buy more stock and add to your positions. Some very good people are making a lot of money off the mistakes of others, whether the market is going up or down. ;)

Thanks for the wake up call haha, I think im going to stick with the long term hold. I dont have any inside information with the recession, I work for a managed fund company and there are alot of different views with my work partners. I live in Australia I dont beleive we are in recession at the moment but most people think we are thats the problem. If people think we are in recession or heading into recession then the outcome will be recession. Humans are funny creatures when they loose control panic and fear sets in. I think the situation in the US, Europe, China, Japan etc is worse than us. Australia just follows the trend.

To experts, analysts, advisers, brokers and banks it's always a time to buy and none of them ever tell you when to sell. I remember when they were telling everybody that it was a great time to buy Financials in May, only to have the banking industry collapse in June. Anyone in the "many" that believe it's the right time to buy again actually investing their own money right now? How about your brother?

well , I am not encouraging him to invest more ; we have better things to do .

Sounds like you don't think it's the right time to plunge back in to the markets. I guess the analysts haven't been convincing enough.

So are you going to invest some of your money in the market right now or is this advice just for the rest of us?

If you are sure, then why not borrow some money and buy now if you don't have enough? Warren Buffet recommended that people buy American stocks and said that he will move all of his personal portfolio into U.S. investments. If it's good enough for Warren, then it's good enough for all of us. Please post back here and let us know when you have made your purchase. Thanks.