stock market in free fall...

[smeagol]

+400 pts and flirting with 9,000 again.

What a crazy market!

[Dex]

No, but I don't like losing money either. I know it is a long term investment but I've always watched the market and moved funds to gain the best return.
My parents have lost $5K in just the last quarter but they don't monitor theirs like I do mine.

They just don't get it. Pull the money out, park it in a CD or TBills while the market keeps dropping...then wait till the smoke clears and put the entire amount back in instead if "riding it out" and losing 20% of your nest egg hoping the market turns...You might not hit the exact bottom but you will have more money to put in when you do get back in.

Yeah, but the only way this effectively works is if you pull your money out BEFORE the market tanks. Unless you were smart enough to see this coming 6 months ago, then you probably took SOME loss on all that money being transferred to CDs/Bonds/etc. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only way you're 'losing' money right now is if you're actually selling.

Once the market stabilizes, be it in 6-months or 6-years, the value of the shares for those mutual funds is gonna go back up, and ta-da...there's your money again, plus some because you've been adding to your 401k and getting shares at premium prices. The only way this won't happen is if the economy totally gives away and America goes into the ter, and as dire as things may be, I don't think we're quite to that point yet.

It still just seems to me that as far as 401k goes, the only people this really affects are people who need to retire / cash their stocks or 401ks now, or who are reacting to the drop and cashing out / moving funds. I'm no expert with finances obviously, but I always thought freaking out and selling low was the opposite of what you're supposed to do.

[T Park]

I'm too much of a wuss to play in the market and have always kept money in a CD.

May not be the quickest way to a million, but sure seems the safest place to keep that money.

[DannyT]

How would interest rates get into 20%+ rates, and for whom would those rates apply?

do you think the days of the housing market with 5.5% rate will be gone here in the future? Do you really think they will hit double digits in the near future? We are seriously thinking about getting a house in the next six months but if that s happens its going to be really hard. I was told that even with VA I wont get to see decent rates if this happens....A few months ago we filled out an app just to see and we got 5.8 or 5.5 something to that effect but its jumps I dont know how buying a house in six months would look like....man I hate the fact that I might have missed the buss on this one....

[2centsworth]

do you think the days of the housing market with 5.5% rate will be gone here in the future? Do you really think they will hit double digits in the near future? We are seriously thinking about getting a house in the next six months but if that s happens its going to be really hard. I was told that even with VA I wont get to see decent rates if this happens....A few months ago we filled out an app just to see and we got 5.8 or 5.5 something to that effect but its jumps I dont know how buying a house in six months would look like....man I hate the fact that I might have missed the buss on this one....

good credit, assets and VA assures you a loan at a good rate. Don't believe the hype.

[CosmicCowboy]

do you think the days of the housing market with 5.5% rate will be gone here in the future? Do you really think they will hit double digits in the near future? We are seriously thinking about getting a house in the next six months but if that s happens its going to be really hard. I was told that even with VA I wont get to see decent rates if this happens....A few months ago we filled out an app just to see and we got 5.8 or 5.5 something to that effect but its jumps I dont know how buying a house in six months would look like....man I hate the fact that I might have missed the buss on this one....

You should be OK within that six month window. Make sure you get copies of your credit reports now and fight every negative on it so when they run it there aren't any issues.

But yeah, I could see double digit mortgage rates again within a 3 year window.

[RandomGuy]

do you think the days of the housing market with 5.5% rate will be gone here in the future? Do you really think they will hit double digits in the near future? We are seriously thinking about getting a house in the next six months but if that s happens its going to be really hard. I was told that even with VA I wont get to see decent rates if this happens....A few months ago we filled out an app just to see and we got 5.8 or 5.5 something to that effect but its jumps I dont know how buying a house in six months would look like....man I hate the fact that I might have missed the buss on this one....

Housing prices look to fall for a while, I would guess that we have not seen the bottom of the housing market by a long shot. If so, waiting until housing prices fall will get you more house for your cash.

Your best bet is to hoard cash in some kind of revolving CD for about 1-3 years.

If your credit is bad or even if it is good, then having a larger down payment relative to the total cost of the house will help a lot when getting a loan, along with the VA (I think you said you have the gaurantee).

Having a buttload of cash sitting around in the bank earning interest will also give you a cushion to use, just in case the coming recession hits you when you least expect it.

Seems to me that if you can hold off for a couple of years, you would be in a VERY good position. Both in terms of getting a lot of house for your money, and having a larger downpayment to make the loan a lot easier.

[BacktoBasics]

The government's effort to boost bank lending to end the credit crisis is hurting one of the areas critical to the nation's recovery: mortgage rates. In the past week, the average mortgage rate on a 30-year fixed home loan has jumped more than one half a percentage point to 6.74%, according to Bankrate.com. That might not sound like much, but it is the biggest one-week rise in the normally stable lending rate in 21 years. Some economists say mortgage rates could soon top 7%, a level they have not seen in more than six years.

I'm thinking more along these lines. I don't see much value one way or the other when it comes to housing values moving downward. Especially since they were so highly inflated to begin with.

[RandomGuy]

what's the unobvious significance of 12-31-10?

I just picked that date, as the best guesses for how long the recession will be is about 2 years.

That would be right around the hypothetical "bottom" of the market, and was why I picked that date.

There will be a lot of speculation about that number in the coming year or two.

[RandomGuy]

It should be an ongoing off-season vbookie even to predict movements of the stock market on any given day.

[TDMVPDPOY]

Its lame how these banks want us to keep money in the deposits, but give us interest rates returns, and the govt not garuanteed the whole amount if the bank epically fails. Why use taxpayers monies to bail out these banks, when its supposed to be the shareholders who have a infested interested, i dont own shares in a bank...why is my tax dollars bailing them out......I would prefer if the govt buys out one of the banks and it will set a better regulation into the banking sector for consumers...as compe ion increases.

Lol at govts telling ppl who have excess amounts in deposits which is not covered, to go buy insurance, whats the point if the insurance cant even pay out when they dont even have enough in their reserves.

[ChumpDumper]

People with more than the FDIC limits in a bank should use additional banks. That isn't rocket science.

[TDMVPDPOY]

People with more than the FDIC limits in a bank should use additional banks. That isn't rocket science.

only some banks are quaranteed or incorporated within the country than yes, if its a foreign bank but not incorporated in the country than no, depending on your countrys legislation.

No point in shifting ur money around too each different banks if theres a cap, what happens to the excess left over? might as well go buy property imo...if you can afford it, i see why not.

[ChumpDumper]

I'm only talking about banks in the US. YMMV in other countries. I see no reason to keep more than the FDIC limit in one US bank when there are so many others out there.

[Das Texan]

i have 4 bank accounts.


so thats theoretically now what 800k i could have insured according the fdic insurance


its not that hard to open a ing bank account. if you are lucky enough to have that much money, then just have how ever many accounts necessary to hoarde all your liquid cash money.

[TDMVPDPOY]

i have 4 bank accounts.


so thats theoretically now what 800k i could have insured according the fdic insurance


its not that hard to open a ing bank account. if you are lucky enough to have that much money, then just have how ever many accounts necessary to hoarde all your liquid cash money.

how much did you pay insurance for ur accounts?

[kris]

Correction.

The bailout was bad, but go with the numbers.

Best odds of a great depression 220:1.

Not very likely.

Bailout bill was stupid, but doesn't mean things won't bounce back in 6 months.

[Das Texan]

how much did you pay insurance for ur accounts?

0

[RandomGuy]

Stock futures had their trading halted until the normal trading day because it hit the bottom limit.

Get ready for a good 500-1000 point drop today. Yikes.

[TheThinkingMan]

I think it could be a rough day on wall street today.

[CosmicCowboy]

Yep...I expect them to hit the circuit breaker and close the market this morning...the leveraged hedge funds are gonna have to start dumping.

[hater]

that's it. say goodbye to your 401ks everyone.

[TDMVPDPOY]

The aust govt was all happy and 2 weeks ago that the aust economy will not go down hard like wall street, then these past 2 weeks talking about bank deposits and how much is guaranteed has scared alot of depositers/workers of the gloom economy the next 12-36months....some hedgefunds have already frozen accounts not allowing ppl to withdrawal, ppl takn out money from unguaranteed deposits set out by the govt and putting them into conventional deposit accounts of the big banks....and the insurance scam they are trying to get ppl to buy if you have deposits over +1M, just another fukn tax.....

retirees are pissd now, and so am i...

[1369]

The aust govt was all happy and 2 weeks ago that the aust economy will not go down hard like wall street, then these past 2 weeks talking about bank deposits and how much is guaranteed has scared alot of depositers/workers of the gloom economy the next 12-36months....some hedgefunds have already frozen accounts not allowing ppl to withdrawal, ppl takn out money from unguaranteed deposits set out by the govt and putting them into conventional deposit accounts of the big banks....and the insurance scam they are trying to get ppl to buy if you have deposits over +1M, just another fukn tax.....

From here on the other side of the pond, to me it looks like the hit commodities are taking is taking a toll on miners and WA in particular (WA is/was the fastest growing and most robust economy in Oz, isn't it?). I thought I read something where Oz *thought* they would be insulated because of the China growth and in turn the growth of WA.

The downturn in China in particular is going to cast clouds on the sector for a while as well.

[JoeChalupa]

Arghh