A MARKET DRIVEN BY FEAR IN THE NEW ECONOMY?

I just want to say what a great guy my broker is. He always keeps me in the loop when I should dump out and run and when its time to move on when the market looks ugly. The timing of his calls seems to suggest I am on speed dial in times of crisis yet I am never in the loop with any "hot tips". Maybe he just doesn't want me to take high risks so he waits for me to make the move into the market. After all he never talks me out of putting in a buy order even if the company is hanging on  by its teeth and the recent wave of activity is probably just hype.

When I stop by his office he's usually on his phone taking orders or looking at new cars on the web. I think he must likes cars a lot because some of the guys in his office say he is quite a collector. I think I saw him drive by me in traffic one day. He had a red Ferrari and the personalized plate said "Mr Doom". I'm not sure what that means.

My broker is always there to take my call and he even calls me when he has some ideas about dumping stock. It's funny how I can be tied up all morning watching the news in fear and it's as though he feels my pain and then reaches out to me with a phone call. Oddly enough he usually suggests I dump out of a lot of stocks unaffected by the recent selling or current market conditions. He tends to impress on me how everything is linked and its better to walk away when the hint of fear is spreading through the markets.

It's not all bad news though. Some days my own self selected picks are up a nice chunk of profit and then as if by magic my phone rings again. It's my broker and he's very excited to tell me what I already know. First off he starts by saying it's had a nice run and maybe it's time to turn over the reigns to another investor. This kind of makes sense since I don't like to be greedy. Even though the company may have a lot of good news in the pipe my broker is always there to warn me and give me the "bird in the hand" speech.

I have had my broker for a while now and over the years I have made money in the markets. I have lost as well in recent years and I wanted to see if just once he would give me some true and honest advice about how the markets will be in the coming months. I want to be in for the long game and keep my money in play as he always says. Surprisingly only 2 days after telling about all the bad news in the markets and why everything will crash he now tells me this is going to be short lived. He also says all the cash I now have from dumping all my shares should start to go back into play. Wow, I guess the markets can turn fast. He made me feel a bit stupid when I suggested taking out all of my current cash and putting it into something safe like an RRSP or even a GIC until the markets get stronger.

Well now here I sit with an account all in cash and of course my broker isn't giving me any tips. I don't even want to look at whats hot on the boards because my mind is now so full of fear. As well I have had to put my dreams on hold since the cash I am holding now is not what I promised my wife I would have by now. I guess it's true, life can turn on a dime. One day your in a winning stock that's on a run and the next your broker tells you to run in fear. The markets sure can mess with your head. The new car and the new house I had planned to buy are now fading into my memory possibly lost forever. My son doesn't have the education fund I was hoping to fill up. I don't even want to touch the cash I do have since my broker seems to be guarding it like its his own. I guess for now I will have to sit and wait for some sign that it's time to jump back into the markets on a new hot stock I found myself.

It's not all bad news though. I saw my broker driving a new red Lamborghini the other day and it even had new personalized plates on it that read "Mr Comish".