Now is the time for young people to become investors

Are you investing right now? You probably should be. In fact, despite all the fear about the stock market and people's 401(k)s tanking, investing is one of the few areas I think people should be cutting back on now.

Why? For the same reason I tell people (at least young people), they shouldn't stop contributing to their 401(k) retirement accounts: the stock market is on sale and the bargains are better now than they have been in years. A few examples (disclaimer -- these are EXAMPLES, not stock-picking advice. Choose your own investments carefully based on your own financial situation):

• On Jan. 20, shares of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which last year bought National City Corp., closed at $22 a share. Nobody liked bank stocks then (most investors still don't). But yesterday PNC closed at $40.93, meaning if you bought then, you'd have doubled your money.
  
• Last October, I interviewed an investor who told me he thought he was getting a bargain by buying Procter & Gamble stock while it was trading in the $57 range. Right now, PG is trading at about $49; it's worth less than it was then, but it's a strong company (everybody needs toilet paper and detergent) who's shares are going for a bargain.

This month's Black Enterprise magazine has a cover story on investors in their 20s who have picked up on this and are taking the opportunity to make long-term investments while stocks are cheap. What about you? Are you investing now, or sitting on the sidelines until the market picks up.