Yeah, I understand, it's crazy right now. I'll start a Politics/Election thread to cool things off a bit.
I'm not a bull or a bear, just a realist. I've been planning for this shit for a long time -- housing had to blow up (1K sqft for $1M?), but I didn't know if it would take the whole market with it.
I look at sectors, not companies -- too much of the market is program traded so all you can hope to do is be in the same sector with the "elephant's footprints" (big traders buying in).
I DO NOT think it's time to buy ;) -- unless it's the 401Keg plan (see below).
Here's some actual tips:
If the markets are freaking, there are all kinds of crazy ETFs. Proshares has dow jones, real estate, financial, etc. You buy some of the regular shares, and buy some of the *UltraShort* shares (like Yin and Yang). Then when one goes up you sell, the other goes up you sell. It's CRAZY!!! One goes up, the other goes down ;) -- sell on the up and sell on the down. Market crashes, you make money, market rockets, you make money. It's like financial Xanax. But, you do have to watch things or set stops.
http://www.finviz.com (crazy charting site, stock screens, etc.)
http://www.zecco.com (10 free trades/month AND you can see what trades people who are making money make)
Found on the Interwebs:
If you bought $1000 of stock a year ago, you would now have:
$91.28 if you bought Washington Mutual
$37.50 if you bought Neomagic
$21.29 if you bought Freddie Mac
$20.79 if you bought Fannie Mae
But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the recycling REFUND... You would have $... 214.00 in cash.
So the best investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.
It's called the 401-Keg Plan