The Iron Yuppie

Another Bubble Set to Blow Up?

I'm not exactly sure why this author thinks this is another bubble getting ready to burst. I have never been even remotely close to the financial sector, but I'm telling you I've heard people talking about making billions on the stock market at the zenith, at the nadir, and everywhere in between. The points this author makes are good ones; we, as humans, are remarkably BAD at evaluating exactly how good/bad our outcomes of any situation were, and we tend to always remember the best stories (I know Joe who made $6 M playing options!) vs. the bad (I know Bob who dropped his entire college fund on pork bellies!). But the fact of the matter is that for the past 75 years, the S&P 500 has returned ~11% y/y and the longer you hold onto it, the more likely you are to get that ~11% y/y growth. As far as an anonymous reader of his column is concerned:

"Boy, does this sound like a great way to make money in the stock market during my retirement years," he wrote. "The class only costs a few thousand. I'm thinking about signing up and playing with $50,000 of my retirement funds. What do you think?"

Uh, people have been acting irresponsibly with their retirement money/college money/mortgage money/medicine money/don't lose this or we will die money/etc. since the dawn of man, why would you think now would be any different?