From Wall Street to Main Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is creating a buzz after breaking its 20,000 barrier. “It's nice. It's just a number though. It's good to see the market's up,” said Joe Quagliana of Orchard Park. “I think it's a time of optimism for many consumers,” added Rob Kubiak. “I've got some investments but 401K has increased over time so that's always good to see.”
According to S.C. Parker Vice President and Certified Financial Planner, Jeffrey Hahn, the milestone means most will also see an increase in their investments on next month's statement. However, Hahn said it's mostly psychological. Investors like large, round numbers. They're easy to remember.
It's also tough to predict whether this trend will continue in the short term. “We don't know if the stock market is going higher over the next six months or even the next couple years. But, we're pretty sure that in 10 years it's going to be much higher than it is now.” Meaning if you haven't invested in the stock market: it's not too late to start. “The percentages of increase are very small. The accumulating of assets is what you want to be concerned with, not so much the price,” Hahn said.
