Losing money on stocks. Where has all the money gone?

Where has all the money gone? Far, far away!

All the world's markets have fallen and huge amounts of real money have disappeared. But has it? Where could it have gone?

Billions slashed from stock markets. Where are those millions hiding?

What money? Questions are being asked, "When the headlines say 'Billions slashed from the stock market', where have the billions gone?" Another popular question is "I bought some shares for $1,000 last year and now they're only worth $500. What's happened to that other $500? Where's it gone?"

Scam?

Would you believe that there are people walking around saying that what's happening is all a scam and the "lost" money has been swiped by the financial services industry?

The answer

The answer is that when a share price changes, no actual money is involved in the change. All that changes is the perceived value of the shares in the minds of the buyers and sellers who actually make up the market. That perceived value may or may not reflect the true value of the piece of the company that a share represents. Investor ideas on value vary wildly and move share prices up or down to highs and lows that bear no relationship to the true value of those shares.

The market is a voting machine

Benjamin Graham, the great American economist and professional investor is considered the first proponent of Value Investing and he explained that, "In the short-run, the market is a voting machine, reflecting a voter-registration test that requires only money, not intelligence or emotional stability, but in the long-run, the market is a weighing machine." ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Losing money on stocks. Where has all the money gone?"