Stock market is 'surging'.

[Fulcrum]

[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;45737312]Get in on that Vanguard Index 500 action and you'll be in good shape.

[editline]19th August 2014[/editline]

True, but an Index 500 mutual fund is a smart risk because it's investing in all of America's top 500 companies. If one drops off the list you stop investing in it, and another one comes off the list. Historically, taking into account the great depression, this keep excellent pace and will pretty much make you money. it's risky in the short term but in the long run it's one of the safest bets imaginable. Should something happen to all of those funds at once and you lose everything then the only money you're going to need is bottlecaps because America is gone.

Unless your company has like a Roth IRA or something and they match money your put into it, in which case you would probably want to leverage that before you leverage your Index 500 portfolio.[/QUOTE]

A company falling from near the top to near the bottom would probably result in a big loss. Nothing is guaranteed, its gambling no matter what fancy words you put on it or whatever fancy portfolios you build. There are no safe bets, no arbitrage opportunities etc

[Sgt. Napalm]

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;45737466]A company falling from near the top to near the bottom would probably result in a big loss. Nothing is guaranteed, its gambling no matter what fancy words you put on it or whatever fancy portfolios you build. There are no safe bets, no arbitrage opportunities etc[/QUOTE]

There is no such thing as a sure thing. Some bets are better than others, though, and in the long term an Index 500 fund is historically a safe bet. It could collapse tomorrow but a meteor can also hit Earth tomorrow.

There's only one option that will automatically fail, and that is not investing at all.

[editline]19th August 2014[/editline]

There's a book called "Your Money or Your Life," it has sections that goes into way more detail about this, about investing and long-term strategy. It's one of my favorite books, it takes the strategy of measuring money in hours; you spend time to make money, so every penny represents the time that you spent to make that money. Great read.