The Market is Sinking.

The market report is in for today, and it's already looking dim. According to CNN Money, within the first ten minutes of this morning DOW plunged 300 points. To be completely honest I have no idea what this means, but it doesn't sound good. Trace back seven years ago and I was a fourth grader who took part in the school's Stock Market Game and loved it. There was a group of us, all part of the gifted program, and when we all got together to buy, sell and trade- well that was our idea of a party. I thought I was a big shot with my online portfolio, buying a stock like Google, GOOG. Having large success when I invested in American Greetings, AM. (Look, as of right now it's up $0.07) Other kids would invest in Berkshire Hathaway, but I was smart and didn't because it's a long term stock and the game only ran through the school year. Actually, the only reason I knew this was because I got my dad into it and he would give me advice on what to do. We set up our My Yahoo! page so that we could compare his stocks to mine, there were times when I did better. After it had ended I convinced my mom to buy the book so I could continue partaking in the market. To date I have no idea where that book is, and after we bought it I never even touched it. Once I got my participation certificate my interest died. I didn't keep track of anything anymore and then found myself completely out of the loop, on the same level, dare I type it, as my mother. But thinking back, was I ever really in the loop? Is anyone ever really in the know? Or does that just land you in Martha Steward's position? All I really knew was the famous, "Buy low, sell high," phrase that so many stock market investors live by. Maybe that was all I needed, for many, that's all they really understand about the market before they dive in and get going. A lot of their sucess is acutally just luck; luck and trust. My mother grew up with a father who never put a penny in the stock market, thus causing her to have no faith and overreact when she hears that's the market is in a slump. My dad, on the other hand, has more trust and keeps saying, "It will turn around." I hope he's right, but according to my recent fortune, he is.