Stock market correction...

[jaja6009]

My YTD change last year was 19.78%. This year through 8 months, I am at 2%. Going to change some things and see if I can get my returns up.

Yeah my portfolio is reacting the same. Im just used to the last 3 or 4 years of gains. But since that bad Monday the market is creeping back above 16000 and 2000 respectively.

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[jaja6009]

Buy for the long term (if you aren't near retirement). Buy stocks with good dividends, so even if they lose money, the dividend will cushion the blow. There are some as well that you can look at for more growth potential that have little to no dividend, but still invest in quality. Market fluctuations are inevitable- the worst thing you can do (and sometimes what financial advisers suggest) is to sell out because you get scared of taking a hit. Mutual funds can instantly diversify an investment- they are basically lots of investments bundled into one...you can find them made up of different stocks with different risk levels.

And stay away from penny stocks unless it is money you are ok with losing. I stuck $500 into a penny stock for a mineral exploration company that was "definitely going to go from $.10 to $3/share in 3 years". Yeah that never happened. I think my investment is worth like $.001 now haha. Luckily, it was money I was willing to lose. Still sucks to basically put money on black and it comes up red- which I actually would have had better odds of winning in Roulette.

I use Scottrade for all of my investing and use to be a Financial Adviser. They have lots of good tools to educate people. Read books, study information online...there is a ton of info out there. Let me know if you have any questions on anything!

I have different accounts for different purposes. I have a deferred comp from work with the majority of my money. I also have a taxable dividend growth portfolio. This is my active one. I only try to pick hold forever stocks that will not only pay a dividend but increase it year after year. If after a while a stock does not increase its dividend or worse drops it, I consider selling it. Usually if it stops paying a dividend the price goes down and I use the capitol loss write off against the capitol gains at tax time. I also have an ETF account that I am testing out too.

The price drop earlier this week let me buy some stuff at 2014 prices. JNJ was down to 89 at one point and Coke was 36. Still overpriced for me but the best price since 2014.

You guys will wanna kill me as I want a big correction so I can load up on stuff. At work guys near retirement wanna choke me when I cheer a big drop.