Wall Street closes higher, S&P 500 above 1,500
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - The S&P 500 index on Friday closed above the 1,500 level for the first time in more than five years as strong U.S. earnings reports from Procter & Gamble and others helped the benchmark extend its rally to eight days.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 70.50 points, or 0.51 percent, at 13,895.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 8.11 points, or 0.54 percent, at 1,502.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 19.33 points, or 0.62 percent, at 3,149.71.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.8 percent, the S&P climbed 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq rose 0.5 percent. It was the fourth straight week of gains for all three indexes.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/25/us-markets-stocks-idUSBRE90L0DA20130125
Socialism! (Longest winning streak in 8 years).
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)swag
(26,487 posts)xo,
s
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)xox
b
adieu
(1,009 posts)NOT!!!!
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)swag
(26,487 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)What does that mean exactly?
swag
(26,487 posts)No need to cut all of the lovely flowers in your garden at once
but I'm 64 and it's a little scary... per your rebalance post, I think for my age, I have a good allocation.
I'm thinking... and still learning. I've made an average of a 10% return this past year. Better than the dang money market.
I do it all myself... no broker. I use Vanguard.
adieu
(1,009 posts)At 64, you should be mostly in bonds to protect your wealth rather than in equity to grow your wealth. But, given the good economic climate, it's worth having a bit more in equities for the moment to let that continue to grow. I'm not going to go into details because, well, I don't want to get sued giving wrong financial advice, but look around and see what the economic environment is good for which sectors (health, financials, energy, start-ups, tech...).
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)It's not uncommon for stocks to lose 40% in one year. It would take several years to recover if that happened and you had all your eggs in that basket.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)companies that have a history of good dividends etc.
CountAllVotes
(20,868 posts)He was in a high paying professional job in his early 60s at the time. He fell ill and was hospitalized for about 6 months and had by this time lost a lot in the stock market where he had all of his money invested in 2008. He was too sick to deal with it and by the time it was over and he realized how much he'd lost, it was so much that he discovered that he cannot recover as he is now 65 years old, sick and cannot work any longer.
All in all, the IRS wins and you lose with no recourse in most cases like I describe in my friend's case.
He is an example of just one person in this age bracket, and an example of a person that got carried away and did not diversify, got sick and couldn't deal with it. In other words, he got a little bit too greedy I'd say, he was smug with his job/profession and all of a sudden ZAP, he got sick; check; done all in a matter of a few months time, life savings gone; hope = none.
llmart
(15,536 posts)I'm almost 64, am only in Vanguard Index 500 fund, do it all myself and just yesterday checked my account and realized that I earned $20K in one month! Now I'm wondering if I should take $20K out and pay down my mortgage, but the mortgage has an interest rate of 3.25%. I am retired and don't expect to have that much taxable income in 2013.
What to do, what to do. I'm conservative when it comes to finances.
I'm too chicken to put all mine in the 500 index. It's a good fund and cheap, but I do worry if the market goes down... so I also put some in "level 3 funds" You know what I mean if you are a Vanguard person. I too thought about paying down my mortgage. LOL.
So interesting we are in the same situation.