I'm not a professional, but I have done pretty good over the last few years.
"Anyone else feeling the effects of the currency movements lately? The $AUD has devalued by roughly 9% against the $US and €Euro in the last 3 months. It’s putting a serious dent in my watch buying budget ...."
Come to Canada. The Canadian dollar is not doing too well compared to the others. On the bright side, it is now a good time to sell on the international market for me. With exchange rates low, I can either reduce my asking prices or take a larger profit. (Please check out my sale thread...lol)
"I plan on putting a good chunk of my savings into the market during all of this since all of my favorite stocks are currently on sale. As a web developer this will be a busy time for me as a lot of people take off work and start turning the gears on those new business ideas of theirs. "
"If only I...we... had a crystal ball to tell us when the market bottoms.?"
We do have a crystal ball in sorts. Look at the past with major market drops. Every time it has recovered in fairly reasonable time.
The sales are presently out there. You hear "everyone is selling off". Well that is a one sided statement. Somebody is buying bargains. It takes two.
We might not be able to predict the exact bottom, but if we do not let greed motivate us (looks who's talking..lol) we can definitely purchase some great sale items presently. I have been buying all week. I'm sure I could have gotten a few better deals today then I did on Monday, but I purchased some bank stocks on Monday at 25% and 18% off their previous market prices. I'm ok with that.
Timing the markets is hard. You may never hit it perfectly, but be grateful with a positive out come no matter how small. I don't have a crystal ball, but I'm going to take an educated guess I will not be upset in 2 quarters from now. Take SARS for an example. Not only did the market recover it soared to new highs after the
fact.
"This market is a long way from done. Right now the market drop is based on fear but wait until the companies release their financials over the next year. Then you'll see more drops."
The market is a long way from being done. Todays market is more volatile due to social media driven news cycles. The internet has made the access to information so much faster. This is why you get such solid spikes. In such short time frames.
Give people the weekend to cool off and get their common sense back and you will probably see major positive spikes next week. The sale will be over. (I hope, I must disclose I have personal investments in this plan ...lol)
It is hard to remain calm when you see a number on paper dropping like crazy, but you must remember the past and base your choices on facts and not emotions. I was very lucky to have sold off a lot in January and was in a high cash situation, which was ideal timing. It gave me the option to purchase like crazy this week. If I was not in the same situation, I would still be buying but at a much reduced rate.
It is about balance. Do not put everything you have in.
If there is one thing my bicycle accident taught me this last summer was no matter how sure you are of yourself, sooner or later the odds WILL prove you wrong. The second, be very grateful for what you have.
I wish the best of health to all of you . Secondly I hope we all do good in our investments so we can have a little to brag about and be able to buy a few watches we have always wanted.