
Ask HN: Is this a good time to buy stock? - BossingAround
I&#x27;ve long been pondering and putting off buying stock. With the fears of Coronavirus, it seems the stock market is down. Is this a good time to buy stock?<p>Any favorites you&#x27;d recommend?
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anonu
Never catch a falling knife.

Timing the market is a futile game. Take the Buffet approach... Buy because
you like the fundamentals and hold forever.

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Miner49er
Using this logic the time to buy is now. If you're not timing the market just
buy whenever you have the money and know what you want.

And it's a better time then two weeks ago, because basically everything is
cheaper.

I will say though, if you are buying now, be prepared to take losses
initially. This could keep going down.

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daleholborow
All in on Tesla, elon's gonna invent a cure any day now surely!

Seriously, the market is now back to where it was six months ago. Consider
what that says about people trying you to tell you to "buy the dip now that
things are cheap". You've got two choices... Buy index funds slowly and
consistently regardless of the news, or learn to pick decently priced
individual stocks based on your own fundamental analysis.

Ignore anyone who tells you to use technical analysis, they're an idiot, and
if you venture into reddit/wallstreetbets, you are screwed.

Good luck.

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Ghjklov
This isn't a serious reply to bash anyone here but it makes me sad that after
a crisis like this hits and many people die because they weren't prepared or
they used all of their money as a result of the crisis, to think that a
relative handful of people who have the capital to freely invest money into
stocks of wealthy companies so that they can profit off them at a later point
after the economy has recovered. It's always the same people isn't it? These
opportunities don't come unless you've already got the money and education to
make use of them. So what's the future look like? More of the same. Don't get
me wrong though. It's the best thing to do if the opportunity is there for
you.

I want to be wrong about this though. Maybe I'm seeing it from the wrong
light. So if someone wants to tell me otherwise, feel free.

~~~
badpun
> These opportunities don't come unless you've already got the money and
> education to make use of them.

The question is if that's even an opportunity. The market may very well fall
or be flat for the next decade. Having money does not equate to automatic
making of more money - there's plenty of moneyed families who lost it all and
went on to became cab drivers etc.

> So what's the future look like? More of the same.

The future looks relatively bright. In general, gigantic, unprecedented
numbers of people are lifted out of poverty every year now. The world is
already an amazing place compared to where it was just a hundred years ago,
and it looks like the trend will continue. There are threats like climate
change, resource depletion etc. but it's unclear if they can wipe out all of
the gains we've already made.

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jsight
The best time to buy an S&P 500 index fund was March 4, 1957. The second best
time is tomorrow (markets are closed today, so you can't do it today).

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sloaken
Until the it peeks you have no idea of impact. Cash is king. Buy low.

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PaulHoule
It is a better time than two months ago.

My take is this: at the beginning of the Trump administration, P/E ratios were
at the high range of "normal". There is another factor of four you could get
in the "bubble" range but that is a special phenomenon that happens once a
generation or so.

Today you always have people asking "is this a bubble?" because we remember
the 1990s, but maybe by 2040 or so it something people might be ready to
believe.

Under the Trump admin I think the stock market has gone up without visible
means of support, but it has not gotten into the extreme bubble territory that
we saw in the 1920s, 1960s and 1990s.

Thus now is certainly a chance to get in, but I can't be too excited about the
market now.

I suggest you get a good ETF like QQQ.

