SHIT! DOW down another 86 points today to 10,706.I'm sure no investor

[napi21]

class, but I have my IRA in mutual funds. I've lost $12,000 in the last week now. What in the hell is going on with the damn market?

I have, or should I say HAD, $150,000 in my IRA, and I'm 62. I can't afford this crap!

Are Shrub's buddies going to get pissed at him NOW that their investments are dropping?

[The Deacon]

1. Hint: Stock Market Always Goes Up in Democratic Administrations

[spooky3]

2. Since 2000, the indexes (Dow, S&P, Nasdaq, etc.) have done MISERABLY

all of us are going to have to defer our retirements if we can stay healthy and keep our jobs.

[stepnw1f]

3. No... We''ll Just Take Our Money Back

Since the system is fucked up, we'll just have to do it ourselves.

[a kennedy]

4. Gold.....how about buying gold??

I can't take this stock market anymore......

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

7. I'm Losing My Shirt On Gold

It's down below $575, and Silver below $10.

I'm losing a bundle no matter where I put my money. I'm just a loser. I'm a democrat after all, and that's what we do best.

[MadHound]

9. If you're going to get into gold, don't get into the metal itself

That's a sucker's game. Instead, get into a mutual fund of gold dealers, that way you will make money as the market goes up and as it comes back down. I got into that four years ago, and have a nice tidy return on my investment.

[MadHound]

5. Sorry to hear about your loss

I suggest that you strap in, for the ride is going to get mighty bumpy before we level out. Economic reality is setting in, inflation going up, housing bubble deflating, low paying jobs replacing high paying ones, high national debt, high personal debt, an economy based on finance and consumerism rather than a much more solid manufacturing base, all of these are finally catching up to the markets and are starting to swamp them.

The only question now is how far down they will go. My best estimate is that we'll hit the 9000 level before all is through, but I could very well be wrong.

Sorry for your misfortune, we're all going to get hard.

[SmokingJacket]

6. It is only down what it recently shot up.

The stock market is where it was back in February! Unless you got in the market since then, you've only lost gains, not actual money.

[high density]

8. Overall I had a 1% increase today on my huge portfolio of stocks

I try not to look too hard at it on a day-to-day or week-by-week basis, though. (hah, but the problem is year-to-year ain't so hot these days either!)

I do have to say though that $12,000 would be very tough to watch just drift away for no apparent reason.

[SoCalDem]

10. A show last night was exhuberant about the "great buys" available

even said the "Market was 'on sale'..." Doesn't that cheer you up?? :puke:

The 401-k, mutual fund retirement is a gamble..that's why the defined-benefit pensions went "bye-bye".. The powers that be want us all to gamble with our old age.. Makes for a compliant, scared populace.:(

[gatorboy]

11. Maybe the History Channel knows something we don't

They had a show about the big stock market crash today...

[AwareOne]

12. Gold and silver are supposed to be a hedge against inflation

and yet, commodities are melting down even faster than stocks now. It's like none of the old rules apply anymore. Fear of inflation is causing gold to drop? What the hell?

[SoCalDem]

14. Anyone here still remember double digit prime..and double digit inflation?

I do...

Somehow I knew it in my bones.. My generation would not be able to have a comfy old age.. We struggled in our "setting-up-household, starting-career days" and the economy fought us every inch..and now as we age, we're gonna get slammed again..

[AwareOne]

15. Oh yeah, I remember paying 18% interest on my first car loan

around 1980. Is that where we are headed? If so it's time to invest in cash.

[SoCalDem]

17. I have cash..but as stuff goes up, even IT becomes less valuable

We 86ed our credit cards last year and pay cash for everything (actually debit card mostly)...

I will probably start buying CDs (not the muisical ones).. I remember before we bought a house here, we put our small profit from the previous house into a cd that paid 13% interest.. I may go that route and hope for the worst :eyes:

[napi21]

19. Oh yea, I remember that! I remember investing 2,000 in an IRA

that paid 11% too!

It was a very hard time for the houseing market, and the business market too. I was accounting mgr. at the time, and I remember having to pay outragious rates and we had a prime -1% arrangememt at the time.

[KoKo]

21. but "SoCal" we know how to deal......

We have our stuff we know how to "garage sale" it to the "newbies" who were like US when we were dealing with Nixon & Reagan's stuff through Carter where none of us could get by without "RESOURCEFULNESS."

We have to hope our kids picked up something from us and we passed it on in our genes and that Donald Trump's "extended gene pool" just goes the way of the Bitish Landed Gentry after WWI or we are all "cooked" and everyone is going to land on our doorstep hoping that we can be "Indian Guides" (American Indian) through the swamplands of how to cope when you thought you could BREAK THE BANK AT MONTE CARLO....and now find that "Sesame Street" didn't really prepare you and neither did your indulgent parents.

I don't know if you will understand my "veiled post." I think you might.

:hug:

Brittany Spears sort of "pales in comparison" doesn't she? :D

[theboss]

13. $12,000 in one week?

Good Lord. What are you investing in?

[napi21]

16. Fairly conservative funds per the advise of my broker.

I don't know that I want to list each one here, but Hartford and Putnam are the parent fund.

Conservative funds in their offering.

[Warpy]

18. It's finally dawned on them

Repuglicans are bad for business.

My inheritance lost more in the last month than I made the last 3 years I was able to work part time.'

Oh well.

[Bushfire]

20. At 62 if you can't afford the risk of that magnitude why put yourself in

funds that can have those type of swings. I'm no stock broker, but do have a degree in finance. Any one who has built up the portfolio that you have done, should have come accross articles in Money, Kiplinger's, or other investing related magazines that advise to put your money in stable money-market type, and US Treasury security funds that pose little risk to your future. If you are leaving your IRA in the hands of stockbrokers, remember they don't all have your best interest in mind.

Remember though that this is only a paper loss until you decide to transfer funds out of your current holdings, or cash out altogether. If you have the fortitude to ride out the downswing, the market historically has always reached new highs.

[InkAddict]

22. 401(K) going down and

Zillow said we lost another 4G in the market value of the house in the last 30 days, down 25% in the last year???? Nah.....Better cuddle up w/a bear - it's gonna be a hot, hot summer and a long, cold winter considering this Metropolitan Region stands to gain only 2,700 jobs in the next eight years! YIKE!

[sweetheart]

23. This article explains it pretty well, imo.

It's risky all round doing business with the Americans

'They like us because we are not American." I hear this a lot these days both in the City and in business. Whether you are a bank trying to rustle up new accounts in the Far East or a manufacturer seeking exports abroad, a common theme among management is the advantage, when competing in the global economy, of being British.

Our government has so far not proved adept at exploiting this on behalf of business in places such as China, especially compared to our European rivals.

However, we seem to be doing a pretty good job ourselves, thanks very much.

Americans, though, are seen to have become riskier people to do business with. Many of them will be surprised by that view from over here, given the no doubt cordial relations which still exist between our two business communities. The risks, however, come not from business but from Congress and its agencies.
.
.
<snip>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?menuId=242&menuItemId=2818&view=DISPLAYCONTENT&grid=M3&targetRule=1

US companies are buying their own stock back to keep it looking rosy whilst the government destruction of
US competetiveness continues unabated.

[Greyhound]

24. Your retirement is being sacrificed to prop up the US dollar.

I'm sorry. :evilfrown: