It’s an exciting time for the markets. We are at a low for 2008 and many think this market downturn is here to stay, myself included. The current economic conditions are more than simply a credit crunch in the financial system, it is a low-growth, inflationary, deflationary environment that will get worse before it gets better. Let’s take a look at why the Dow is likely headed lower.

How do you plan to make money during bear markets? I have been writing recently about how the near term future has numerous head winds which should be damaging to equity prices. It seems the market has been agreeing with me over the last weeks. What are you doing to beat the market and make money when the market is getting slaughtered?

At 20s Money, my goal is not to prove to you how good of an investor I am. There are better investors out there. My goal is to be transparent about my own investment decisions and help you learn from my successes and mistakes. With that said, it is time to reveal my complete portfolio to you. You can see my positions and the weight of each one in my overall portfolio.

Knowing when to sell is a tough thing to figure out.  I think it’s harder than knowing when to buy.  Knowing when to sell a winning stock is tough because on one hand, your gains are only on paper and are meaningless until you ring the register.  On another hand, the upward trend is in your favor and you don’t want to miss out on future gains.  Here are some examples and thoughts on determining when to sell that winning stock.

What is the key to being a better investor? Well, part of it is by learning from your past successes and mistakes. If you make trades, take your profits or cut your losses without any reviewing or analysis of your investing moves, then you are missing out on a huge part of investing. This huge part of investing is what can catapult you into another level of investing success and higher returns. Let’s take a look at what I mean exactly.

In my previous post, The 20s Money Retirement Plan, we talked about the goal of having a portfolio that pays $260,000 a year in dividends during retirement. 35 years from now, $260,000 a year would be the estimated equivalent of $100,000 a year today (due to inflation).
Today, I want to look at some possible scenarios that would let the average investor reach that goal in 35 years. Are you ready to take the 35 Year Challenge? If so, read on.

I just read another Yahoo Finance article that gave the same repetitive lesson on investing: diversify, diversify, diversify.  As far as I’m concerned, you have two options in investing.
The first option is diversification; however, not diversification how most recommend which is buying a bunch of different stocks in a bunch of different industries. Why spend so much effort on simply trying to match overall market returns? If this investment approach appeals to you, achieve diversification by simply buying an S&P Index Fund and that’s it. Continue …

I remember my last semester in college in the spring of 2005 when oil was incredibly high at $60 a barrel. It seemed like every market analyst was freaking out. Today, oil is over $120 a barrel. With oil and other commodities getting loads of attention on CNBC and other market news resources, the question is and will continue to be for most investors: Should I invest in oil or have I already missed the run?