Jim Cramer, the CNBC host given to shouting at callers and setting off sound effects in his studio, says investors who need money within the next five years — and there are millions upon millions, as the baby boomers get set to retire — should sell everything.
“I thought about this all weekend,” Cramer told NBC’s The Today Show. “I do not want to say these things on TV.”
Then he went ahead and said it anyway.
“Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week. I do not believe that you should risk those assets in the stock market right now.”
The market tanked soon after, falling more than 700 points before recovering late in the day to just under 10,000 points. Some are already calling it the "Cramer Crash."
Cramer early in the day predicted an additional 20 percent decrease in stocks as the credit crisis begins to eat into non-financial companies like retailers.
“I don’t care where stocks have been, I care where they’re going, and I don’t want people to get hurt in the market,” Cramer said.
“I’m worried about unemployment, I’m worried about purchases that you may need. I can’t have you at risk in the stock market.”
Anyone who can stand to wait five years for their money, he said, should just ride it out.
Of course, this is the same Jim Cramer who said on Aug. 21 that July 15 was the market bottom.
The Dow ended that day at 10,962, just under 1,000 points higher than the close Monday. Cramer told his viewers on Aug. 12 to buy bank stocks.
"The bottom was July 15. Banks are still getting downgrades. But their stocks have moved up a great deal. The short-sellers have moved them up,” he said then.
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