Cindona,
My investement funds are through USAA and they will do fine. I am tickled with Tesla, but it has not dropped far enough for me to buy my last block. We are still way ahead, and hope that it does go down to where we bought initially. My problem isn't worrying about how low it will go or getting out. My concern is judging the bottom correctly or close to buy at best advantage. And that is luck anyway. I bought my first block at 17 and change, my second block at 22.55. It closed down today at $24.75, not low enough to buy my third block but may be the lowest and I should.
I have been really upset with Motley Fool giving Tesla investors grief ignorantly for the past two or three months. This morning before the crash they came out pro and did a 180 with this article:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/08/04/tesla-motors-big-surprise.aspx
Now before you read that as most would, they have ignored and scanned Tesla like many others and missed what was announced last mid year when Tesla made a deal with Toyota and Daimler to supply them, and buy the Toyota excess factory in Fremont California putting a bunch of Americans back to work. Now this is important about analysts, they are as prone to be know it alls as the common investor. In this case you have to get to the second half of the article before you see their weak attempt to say that things have changed with the Totyota deal when in fact I posted here that Tesla delivereed the Toyota Rav 4 protos to Toyota last November /December, and I also posted here about Tesla buying the Fremont Plant from Toyota in a big deal in mid 2010! As well as their deal with Daimler.
I am no big investor. I have only talked about investing here really twice. Once in 2005 that Apple was going to be able to run Windows when they announced they would switch to Intel chips the following year in early or mid 2006. They were 55 bucks a share! I chickened out, others may have listened to me. This time I felt the same as then but with Tesla, which I had been following since about 2003 (and I won't name the folks here that said they would never come to market etc. etc ad nauseum) I jumped in with both feet. Even today folks don't realize they brought the first production long range Hwy capable all electric to market in 2008 way ahead of the big auto makers. I still see people posting that no one is going to buy a car with 80 -100 mile range, when Tesla has 300 mile ranges, unlike the competition.
Anyway, it is my understanding to never sell low, only high, and that you haven't made or lost or broke even until you sell. So today's market is when to buy in my limited understanding of how it works. I am serious too. Warren Buffet gave those as his rules for buying and selling, and that makes it good enough for me. But I am hoping Tesla goes down a bit more. I will surely buy at 22.55 or lower. I am just worried this is as far down as it is going.