Lost money in stock market.... what now?

[higherdesire]

Daem, while I appreciate a lot of what you say, you have no idea what "EVER" holds in regards to the future. There is no way to guaratee that the market won't surpass our wildest dreams in the long term. Just like we don't know if it will ever even come back. We really just guess even if it is informed guessing, it is just guessing. Speculation is just that bro.

[daem]

Daem, while I appreciate a lot of what you say, you have no idea what "EVER" holds in regards to the future. There is no way to guaratee that the market won't surpass our wildest dreams in the long term. Just like we don't know if it will ever even come back. We really just guess even if it is informed guessing, it is just guessing. Speculation is just that bro.

Talking in absolutes makes people look foolish, but in this case, I was talking about BANK stocks and financial holding companies never reaching 2007 levels again.

The entire reason this recession will drag on is because the banks can not mark the assets on their balance sheets to the market price. If that were the case, they would immediately be insolvent and taken over.

Think about our economy like this...It's a train that's 5 miles long. The engine (in this case, home values) hit a brick wall. The cars attached to the back don't immediately derail, but they inevitably will. When the train is finally put back together and starts, it takes an awful lot of momentum to gain inches, and acceleration is very slow.

You can bet this mess isn't solved by 2012, and my money is parked heavily in puts and short positions that are much better bets than any calls or long position.

The stock market may or may not hit 15000 in our lifetime again, but there has never been SO much leverage from credit cards, HELOCs, and mortgage debt in the history of the world as exists now. Until all that debt is unwound and the american consumer isn't living off of credit cards to buy necessities, the layoffs will continue, spending power will decrease, and every private corporation will feel the drag. We're in a sideways trading range for the most part with the trend downward.

Personally, I feel the next big "bubble" to deflate will be an insurance bubble. Boomers are going to pop that one next in the next 10 years as they start relying on entitlement programs. Don't even get me started on the bond market and what kind of unwinding will happen there when the US dollar is shunned.

I'm not claiming to be some sort of financial pundit, but it bothers me that the OP was given advice to "hold for 5-10 years" when my "sell for tax loss" is most likely far more prudent advice in the grand scheme of things.

I'm still interested in what sits inside his portfolio.