Anyone else take a hit in the stock market?

I guess its my fault for trying. but im a noob in the stock market, I've been messin with it for about 4 months now. and I just happend to buy a couple day's before it dropped big, just my luck right, lol. just checking to see how everyone else is doin in it, and if anyone has any good idea's for companies.

.

I think the idea of the stock market is to invest long term. if you throw money on stocks with a ten year track record for five or ten years, you are going to make money. that's what dave ramsey says anyway...

You are best investing according to your objectives rather than trying to time the market.

Every time I tried to get too clever with my investments I ended up taking a big hit.

Just stick to the basics. Dollar cost averaging, dollar value averaging, diversifying your portfolio, having an apropriate mix of growth vs. bond funds, domestic vs. foreign funds, etc.

Statistics show that most of the profits are actually made in bear markets, but you don't know it until later.

There are a few stories of people getting rich quick investing on momentum, but pretty much all professional investors invest based on fundamentals. If you do that, you will naturally buy less when stock are overvalued, and more when they're undervalued, without trying to time the market.