Make it counts

The past few weeks had been hard to believe. It was very hard to lose money in stocks recently. Plenty of stocks doubled from their lows. We like to say stocks like to anticipate. Does it mean the world will recover in 2010 ?

This is decision time. If you believe that 2010 will be just fine and smooth sailing, time to pile in on pull backs. If you don't believe in Santa coming to town in 2010, a tremendous opportunity awaits as well.  BUT timing is critical. A bear market rally tends to run longer and harder than anyone dreams ever possible. It sucks everyone in before the truth reveals itself. This one won't be any different. I am still going go for the May-Jun/Jul dip before a very strong snap back. And then maybe an implosion later in the year.

The Sydney property market is no different. To buy or not to buy. I have been thinking about this issue a long time recently. We have finally got enough of a deposit. And boy it tooks us nearly 10 years. And let's be frank, the journey has not been easy. My better-half, when she still had a job, worked till midnight regularly. We had to send our kids to childcare far earlier than we would have liked. The work environment was brutal. I really don't want to squander our deposit so easily.

I have been asking myself should we yield to the market reality now and just buy something ? I just did my usual rental yield comparison. Here is one example. A house (4/4/3)  is for sale in Mosman for $3.15M. Its next door neighbour (4/3/2) is for rent ($1400/week). Forget what everyone tells you about now is the time to buy, collect as much data points you can before you make the plunge.

Like all those war movies, this is the time to "make it counts".