Stocks, Personal Finance | featured news

How is your portfolio doing since the 2008 financial crisis? If you’re like most Americans, it’s probably healed some. After all, stocks are up about 13 percent since October 2008. Bonds are up about 30 percent. “Winnie-the-Pooh” is doing a bit better. A 1926 first-edition copy of the fabled children’s classic can fetch nearly four times what it did in 2008 — a return of almost 300 percent.

The presence of company stock within a 401k plan is a major red flag. On the other hand, it provides a simple way for employees to assess whether they can trust their employer and any of the products and services offered within a plan. The more company stock within a 401k plan, the less an employer can be trusted. It's that simple.

Those who don’t invest in the stock market would like to pretend stock market crashes don’t concern them, but the truth is that they do. It’s not only those who actively trade who lose money. The average person loses money and opportunities as well. To show how, 24/7 Wall St. put together a list of eight ways market collapses affect people’s lives.