Friday, September 19, 2008

** VIDEO ** Thoughts on a Historical Week

Here are some thoughts on this week's market ... one that we'll likely never see again in our lifetimes.



Enjoy the weekend.

4 comments:

Matt said...

Don,

If you need help setting up your chat area, let me know. I'm was professional software developer in a previous lifetime and would be happy to give you a hand.

Charles A Pennison said...

Well, maybe this type of market is a twice in a lifetime event.

I had the unfortunate experience of being 100% long in the equity market during the 1987 October crash. I experienced the pain of seeing almost 50% of my equity value disappear in one or two days.

What was even more painful was the fact that I sold near the bottom, only to see the value of the stocks that I once owned return to their pre-crash values in a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, I was young with a high paying job. So, I was able to financially recover in a short period of time. After that experience, I worked to become a more serious student of the markets. I am still learning lessons from the market, but none as painful as October of 1987.

Charles

Ed Mendus said...

Hi Don,
Appreciate your efforts in sharing with us. My question has to do with the biggest expense we have- taxes. Naturally I want to keep as much of my money as possible. And I'm sure you do to.

Can you tell us how you approach this situation? Do you trade through an entity(s) or claim trader status or what? I have spoken with many cpa's but get different recommendations and don't trust them (none of them actually trade index futures and I can't locate one that does)

Any light you can shed on this serious matter would be greatly appreciated.

Ed

Don Miller said...

Matt - Thanks ... I may take you up on that offer in the near future.

Charles - Been there, done that myself. I suppose what doesn't kill us does indeed make us stronger, and perhaps that will never change. I'm glad you were able to work through it.

Ed - I've found Robert Green's insights and materials at greencompany.com to be very helpful over the years, and would direct you there for trader tax related efforts.

I do know there are some entities that provide for self-directed IRAs -- including Millenium Trust of Illinois -- although that certainly invites the potential danger of risking one's retirement assets if one isn't fully experienced. Such an option also wouldn't work for someone needing to generate daily spendable cash flow.

When I taught, I always recommended traders have a stable source of income (e.g. from a spouse, non-trading job, or other business) OTHER than trading for a number of reasons, and I believe that scenario along with trading an account that doesn't need to be tapped on an ongoing basis for daily cash flow would be the ideal scenario.

Don