Don't panic.
Despite the tumultuous economy, Augusta State University professors said the safe bet is that the nation will turn around, just be patient.
"I think in the long term, it's a great country," Dr. Simon Medcalfe said. "It's got great institutions, great politics ... People want to work here. People want to move here. People want to invest here."
Economics and finance professors from the university's Hull College of Business held a panel discussion on campus Thursday to address questions and concerns about the nation's economy and financial markets.
Workers close to retirement shouldn't be 100 percent invested in equities, finance professor Chris Cain said.
"Unless you don't believe that the United States is a good long-term bet and unless you believe that the United States economy is forever going down, then you've got to say that in the long term it's going to go up," Dr. Cain said. "The worst thing that anyone can do is sell now. You made a paper loss into a real loss."
Actually, it's a good time to buy, he said, cautioning those who attended the discussion not to be too aggressive.
"If you are young and you're not even that close (to retirement), then everything is on sale," Dr. Cain said.
Finance professor Brigitte Ziobrowski said no one has a crystal ball and no one can say with certainty when the markets will turn around. It's difficult to buy when the stock markets are still falling, but it will be too late to buy when the markets hit the bottom, Dr. Ziobrowski said.
Every generation has its housing market crisis, but the next generation always forgets the lessons learned, she said. The 1980s survived its crisis, the country will survive this crisis and the next generation will have its own.
Some legitimate selling on Wall Street has created a snowball effect in today's climate of fear, professor Dr. Pete Basciano said. And that underscores the need for the public to remain calm, Dr. Cain said.
"Don't panic. Don't sell, especially if you've got a long time until retirement," he said. "Don't be part of the problem."
Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
Market timing is the key. Even the simple winter/summer system decribed in "beating the market the easy way" by Sy Harding would have kept folks from all this lost. Dont believe the lie about buy and hold being good. It simply is not true and timing is easy and simple. "If you want to work when you are old; do buy and hold". You can't get in at the exact bottom or out at the exact top but you can easily beat buy and hold.
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