Never a Bad Time to Invest

When the stock market is hot, everyone seems to be making money. When it's down, on the other hand, it seems everyone is telling you that now is the time to invest so as to make a bundle as soon as things pick-up again. Is it ever a bad time to invest?

According to buyout firms, the answer appears to be no. Moreover, history seems to back-up their claims showing that returns on these private equity funds return far superior rates beginning from the year of the bubble and over the following two-years. Remember the popping bubble in 2000? Well, would you be surprised to hear that 2001 through 2002 resulted in returns of 33%, 29% and 31% in each year respectively?

I read a great little two-liner about how private equity firms view the market - regardless of its position in the business cycle. If a company is worth more in private hands than it is in public hands, then there's money to be made in performing a buyout. If the reverse is true and a company is worth more as a public entity, then there's money to be made in going-public. No matter what, you see, there's always money to be made.