About 10 years ago I was working for a big brokerage house and put a few grand into my IRA in T-Bills (I completely forgot about this).

Well, I just off the phone with a broker there telling me the notes just came due and I had $10,000 to reinvest. Where did I want to put it? I said "I don't care about the penalties or taxes, cut me a check". He was just stunned! He said "I have 14 years experience in the brokerage business and let me tell you this market is going to 20,000". I said "Well, I have over 15 years experience as a programmer and I'm not at all optimistic about Y2K." He IMMEDIATELY said "I have another call. I'll have the paperwork sent to you."

Now, normally these guys will keep you on the line trying to get you to invest MORE money in the market. But when I mentioned Y2K he was OUTTA THERE!! Anyone else have experiences with Brokers like this??

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), November 16, 1999

Answers

IT'S CALLED DENIAL

Good for you TECH32, I think you did the smart thing.

A report on another post indicates that the SEC is going to conceal information about the status of companies experiencing failures, and they are only going to provide information to certain "preselected" reporters from the media.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 16, 1999.

CNNfn tends to agree with your stockbroker, TECH. FWIW, a relative highlight from the article:

Wall St. jittery
Share prices on higher ground following Fed rate hike
http://www .cnnfn.com/1999/11/16/markets/markets300p/

Barry Hyman, chief market strategist at Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum, said either way the Fed went, it is a "win-win" situation.
"If there is no hike, the market will continue to rally. If there is a hike by a quarter point, (the market) will exact a positive response that this will be the last hike for a while," he said.

Hyman noted investors are looking beyond the Fed decision today as there are many other factors helping the market, such as the recent rep eal of Depression-era banking laws.  "We will continue this bull market rally. There will be pullbacks along the way, but the bull market remains intact," he added.

I took some Finance classes, and the instructor emphasized P/E ratios OVER and OVER and OVER when it came to analyzing companies and investing in stocks. Maybe I've been snoozin', but have the rules changed?

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), November 16, 1999.

Didn't you hear, Tim? We're in a New Era! Trees grow to the sky! This is a New Paradigm! We're entering a permanent plateau of prosperity!

(I could go on and on but I have to take the tongue out of my cheek)

-- lara (nprbuff@hotmail.com), November 16, 1999.

Tech,

You know why they're called brokers, don't-cha {cuz they're broke-er than you}.

A friend w/ ML was a big time GI early last year, another has stars in his eyes with the long term upside potential. Interesting times.

-- flora (***@__._), November 16, 1999.

It's also called arrogance. They believe mental illness is contagious, and we have it. I mean, what could possibly go wrong in this wonderful rosy world we live in? To even suggest that makes us unworthy of taking up time, or space. In fact,we must even want things to turn bad to have suggested such a thing. Better, I think, to act like a droid in public, and prepare like mad in private!

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.