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Lesson learned?

By: Crissa Shoemaker DeBree
The Intelligencer

With the stock market rebounding from the recession, it remains to be seen how investors will respond.

It's been nearly two years since the stock market crashed, decimating many Americans' retirement savings and prolonging the country's economic recession.

In that time, the Dow Jones - which slipped more than 22 percent between Oct. 1 and Oct. 10, 2008 - has once again reached 11,000, and most economists are proclaiming the recession has ended.

But whether or not Americans have learned their lessons about investing and credit remains to be seen.

"I'm not so certain how well we've learned our lesson," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors in Northampton. "There seems to be a continuing belief that anything is possible, and there are no prices to pay for that. "To a large extent, the average investor is a lot more cautious," he added. "But I don't believe we fully learned the lesson, that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is."

Mark Charnet believes people have learned a lesson from the stock market turmoil, if only about how to mitigate their investment risks. Charnet is CEO of American Prosperity Group, a financial services franchise that often recommends investment in variable annuities, an insurance product that guarantees a lifelong income.