Ask Doc A lot of investors get hung up on a simple question: "Is now the right time to put my money in the market?"
The truth is, if you're not already properly planning for retirement, it's always the right time to start investing...
When it comes to investing, our impulse to do nothing is strong... especially during a time when the stock market keeps hitting new highs. Lots of folks wonder if they've missed out on the best gains already or if there's a crash looming on the horizon.
But as I've said for years, stocks are the greatest wealth-building tool in all of history. You need to have money in stocks.
That means holding stocks through the good times and the bad. If you just buy and hold, riding all the bumps along the way, you'll make money in the end. By staying only in cash, you'll miss the downturns, sure, but you'll miss all the good times as well... And inflation will steadily erode your wealth.
Putting your money into the stock market doesn't mean you can haphazardly throw money into any stocks. Plenty of stocks won't be around in 10 years. No matter how strong the business is, few stocks last forever.
Consider photography company Kodak (KODK)...
Kodak was the Apple (AAPL) of its day. It was a "sleep well at night" blue-chip stock. As the prime inventor of camera film, the company was on the constant edge of innovation for decades. As late as the 1970s, it sold 90% of the film and 85% of the cameras in the U.S. But the end came fast for Kodak...
In early 1990s, digital cameras hit the consumer market... and almost immediately undermined Kodak's analog camera and film business. In 2012, the company filed for bankruptcy. Lots of shareholders ended up with nothing.
Of course, you're much less likely to lose all your money with large, dominant companies, but it can happen.
And, according to my friend Marc Chaikin, we're headed for a shift... And the investments and strategies that have worked the best throughout this entire bull market are not going to help you much going forward.
But next Wednesday, June 26, Marc will be sharing a strategy that has a long historical record for outperforming the rest of the stock market in financial environments just like the one we're experiencing now.
Marc believes this might be the single most profitable strategy that could outperform the S&P 500 Index fourfold over the coming year...
Click to reserve your seat today.
Now, let's dig into the Q&A... As always, keep sending your comments, questions, and topic suggestions to [email protected]. My team and I really do read every e-mail.
Q: Doc, any opinion on the blood test for colon cancer? Instead of going through the whole ordeal of a colonoscopy. – R.C.
A: I see a lot of promise in this new test...
With a blood test for colorectal cancer, you could get screened as part of your annual physical. It's much more comfortable and convenient than a colonoscopy or even a stool-based test in which you'd collect a sample at home...
However, this blood test hasn't yet won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). Its developer, Guardant Health, hopes that the sign-off will come before the end of the year, and an FDA advisory panel recently endorsed the test. But this isn't a test you can take yet.
Early indications are positive... In a study published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, involving 7,861 participants between ages 45 and 84, the test caught 83% of the folks who had cancer (confirmed via colonoscopy). That's nearly as good as a stool-DNA test – and a lot more convenient.
However, this test is only 13% effective in catching cancer in its earliest stages. It looks for cancer in bits of DNA that tumor cells only release later in the process.
A colonoscopy is no fun... mainly because you have to spend hours on the toilet emptying your bowels the night before. But it's still the gold standard for colon-cancer screening. Plus, anyone who tests positive in a stool or blood test would still need to get one pronto.
But if it's approved, this new test could warn folks who have no idea that cancer is brewing...
What We're Reading...
- Did you miss it? Don't be a gambler... be the house.
- Something different: Centuries-old preserved cherries found at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
June 21, 2024