Currently we are running with the bulls, but they are beginning to tire just as most people get into the race.  Many of us remember the 1987 Crash, the Dot.Com Crash, and the Great Recession.  In between these investment disasters have been retreats, retrenchments and pullbacks.

Sometimes the stock market goes up like a child’s rocket and other times like a Saturn V.  This time we have another Saturn V.  It feels somewhat like the great time before the Dot.Com Crash when my broker wasn’t available and wouldn’t return my calls.

One thing all investors should know and remember is no matter which rocket we are riding, it will not go into orbit.  Gravity always exerts its influence and brings the investments down.  Bonds usually fall slowly but stocks can move downward extremely fast.  Mutual funds and Exchange Traded Stocks move just as fast as the stocks on which they are based but are slower to get out of.

Some people will ride the bear down to the bottom and slowly climb back up.  It’s called a bear market until it reaches the old highs.  Others will see it coming and go to cash so they buy back in at a much lower level.

Whether you invest directly, through your IRA, or your 401K, the market will fall and rise again sooner or later.  No rocket can achieve orbit and will, sooner or later, fall back to earth no matter what a President says or does.  Rising markets create a measure of euphoria whether or not a person is invested so they buy things.  When it falls, people stop buying and this often creates a recession.  Booming economics are always followed by recessions because orbit is not possible.