I agree. The principle here really, really bothers me. But, you know how people with the mindset like Obama justify it? They are "only" going to raise the taxes on people making over $200k. It doesn't change the principle, it just gets more people to be OK with the idea and justify it because only a small percentage of people will actually have to pay for it.
Do you need someone to hold your hand and tell you everything will be alright? The market is still ridiculously over-valued and needs to crash and crash hard to pre-Bush levels. I'll lose no sleep over people losing riches they basically stole in the first place.
i got a letter from my bank saying they were increasing all the rates on their credit cards. Should interest rates be falling. I mean if i'm trying to pay down my debts at 6% interest why would i do any better paying it down at 9.99% interest. And I haven't missed a payment, goodness knows if I did they'd jack it up to 27% interest. Its just crazy. There should be laws against this.
It's because they have some power now. Credit is going to be a lot tighter, so there's less risk you'll drop their card for another one. With the economy shrinking, the repayment risk went up. Most of all, they need to find a profit center with mortgage volume down, so personal credit seems to be the easiest way to do it.
Good for you. Meanwhile, hardworking people are seeing their saved retirement being cut in half, and your beloved Bend, OR has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country right now. As for your first sentence, I'm only pointing out reality. You are the one hoping for failure.
Don't pay off your debts, or at the very least just pay the minimum. We haven't even seen the beginning of inflation yet, and with the spending of money we don't have, that is a given within the next year. There is no need to save at this point in time.
There are hard working people losing their homes, but your attitude seems to be so what, they got themselves into it. Shouldn't it be the same attitude with the stock market? No one forced "hardworking people" to invest in the stock market. They (including myself) choose to put money into the stock market, knowing the risks. If the stock market collapses, I will balme no one but myself for losing my saving in an investment vehicle I didn't take the time to fully understand.
No one is offering a 401k bailout, are they? So the same people being asked to pay for the mortgages of deadbeats are now losing significant portions of their future security. All of this before the upcoming period of inflation, too. Fun times ahead (sarcasm).
Well in a way people are asking for a 401K bailout . . . that is the whole financial bailout. The financial industry is killing the market. In fact AIG just yesterday asked for more gov't funds and the associated drop in the market was attributed in part to the AIG situation. So these bailouts are about trying getting the economy back on track, which would result in a stock market increase.
Actually, all that is happening is that large investors are dumping stock for treasury bills, while the average 401k investor is locked into the market. Basically, we are seeing a massive movement of money from the private sector to the government. An absolutely brilliant takeover of the US economy in a matter of months. Staggering, actually. The rich get richer, and the rest of us are screwed. Meanwhile, DC is more interested in lambasting nobodies like Rush Limbaugh to avert attention away from an unprecedented finanicial situation. I look forward to our conversations on this over the next few years, KMD.
Don't worry, Obama will put an end to that. Why is the 401K investor locked into the market . . . I can call on my 401K and have the money moved out of the market within 24 hours. I'll watch and talk about the stock market over the next few years . . . but I don't claim to be an expert on the stock market or the economy.
About 3 months ago I sold a couple of my bigger mutual funds and put them into a money market. I didn't pay a penalty, but I'm not familiar with all the different 401K programs out there. I could see how practically speaking, one would feel they can't move out of the stock market given that it is at a 12 year low or something like that, but I'm pretty sure most can choose what they invest in.
BREAKING NEWS: Dow ends trading down 39 points at fresh 12-year low. S&P also at new 12-year low http://money.cnn.com/?cnn=yes Another day, another downer. I hope the White House has another great party tomorrow night at our expense.
Mutual funds aren't 401ks. You can't just take out 401k money and transfer it to a T-bill without paying taxes and penalties.
Well shows what I don't know. I'm so clueless about my money . . . I know that a certain percentage is taken out each month into what I considered a 401K (company matches 3%). I go through Atena and can tell them where I want the money to go (ie mutal funds, bonds, money market). I commonly refer to that as my 401K . . . but maybe it is defered compensation or something else. All I know is it is it doesn't get taxed, the company matches and I can move the money around but not withdraw on it (I can do some kind of loan to myself but haven't gone there yet). My attitude is I can't personally do anything about the economy, so I will just put my head down, keep on working and try not to spend too much money. I know it simplistic, but really what else can I do?
He said money market, not T-bill, though. You don't have any options other than stocks? That's kind of a lousy setup. barfo
