For those of us who have participated in the investment arena for more than just the past couple of years, 2000 will likely go down as "not unprecedented and long overdue." For the investors who have come to the party more recently, it was a brutal, eye-opening, and sobering experience. Buying every dip didn't work. Dot-com IPOs didn't work. This year was truly a coming-of-age experience for millions of "adolescent" investors.
Before making any stock market investments know exactly what you expect from those investments. Have the patience for the investments to fulfill the expectation, and the wisdom to know exactly how the investments will fulfill the expectation.
A forethought example:
I want every stock market investment to supply me with ever-increasing cash for the rest of my life. I want my retirement investment portfolio income to grow until the income from my portfolio replaces the income from my job when I retire.
Often, a company once trading on a big exchange finds itself demoted to the Pink Sheets as it either tries to restructure itself, or is just stuck there as a last rite of passage to the stock graveyard. Adelphia Communications (ADELQ) fits within this category. Once a darling among investors, due to a major CEO scandal that rocked the investment community, it is now bankrupt, and trading on the Pink Sheets with very little hope of ever getting back to the big boards as it goes through the liquidation process.