It is simple.
9/11/2001 - Market Meltdown.
9/15/2008 - Market Meltdown.
Lesson for You?
When the smiling talking head on TV tells you that you should put your money in the market for the long term, for, say, 30 years and let it stay there - smile, get up and change the channel.
If you see said smiling gentleman on the street, smile, and then punch his lights out.
The market is NOT good for the long term.
The market is NOT good for the short term, either. You will be competing vs computer programs which analyze the stock prices and act within less than a second, while you are stuck reading that Reuters article... they already have traded, and the price has changed.
That is the lesson for today.
Monday, September 15, 2008
What You Should Have Learned from the Market Meltdown
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1 comment:
my financial advice is this:
Find a good home value, take care of your house, and put your extra money in PAYING OFF YOUR HOUSE.
Buy 1-3 year old cars for cash.
Save money to buy the things you want, dont put them on a credit card. If both of you are willing to work a second job for a summer (or better yet, some falls and winters) you'll find that it doesnt' take long to get the cash to buy that big TV, new computer, living room set, or whatever.
Borrowing money is basically giving money to the "elite". Borrowing money is what funds "the elite". The only thing you should borrow money for is something that goes up in, not down in, value. Cars dont go up in value---and are the easiest way to save a great deal of money. That used Civic will give you good service and save you 20K over that new Lexus that would have impressed your friends. You can take the money you saved and pay down the house, or buy all the things you wanted for the house, or put it in the Credit Union (much better than banks) and have it earning interest for your next car purchase five years or so down the line.
Paying down the first 15 years of a 30 year mortgage as quickly as possible is THE LEAST you can do, even if you have to scrimp for a couple of years to do it. Counting on your stocks to always go up is a risky thing these days. We are now in the GLOBAL economy---and nobody knows whether the United States will stay market dominant.
I submit to you when China/Russia/India/Japan/Indonesia/Saudi Arabia feel they have enough collective weaponry to take us on.......none of them will be willing to prop up our economy anymore anyway. They can let us fall at that time. Other markets will be big enough in 30 years time, that these entitites will no longer depend on the American Consumer....................so we will be unessential to our national creditors. Our Wall Street Masters of the Universe caste will find out blood is thicker than water at that time, to their profound dismay.
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