Sunday, October 12, 2008

Syd Gets it Right--I Hope

If you're not reading Syd's blog, Retirement: A Fulltime Job, you're missing some interesting and timely posts. Her latest one on the current market (Syd did pick a spectacularly inauspicious time to retire) is one I particularly appreciate.

Of course, I do look for posts and experts that back up how I prefer to see what is happening in the stock market.

But I think that it is an advantage to have been on this earth for 59 years. It gives me perspective.

I have witnessed the stock market and the economy in general do a lot of crazy things. Heck, I remember having CD's that earned 15% and I remember thinking that was not nearly enough interest! I remember when a mortgage rate of 10% was not considered unreasonable. Finally, having worked in non-profits dependent upon public funding for many years, I am all too familiar with the ups and downs and political whims that have governed my paycheck.

This, too, shall pass.

I hope.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to have your vote of confidence! Thanks for the mention AND the reminder of times past--yes, 15% CD's and 10% mortgage rates--hard to believe!

Anonymous said...

And during the same time period, at my job we got 15% raises.

Anonymous said...

You have to ask yourself how legal is a system (Wall Street) whereby people's 5-10 years of savings can be wiped out in 2 weeks or less? Then you have to ask yourself, how can you invest your money, how can you send your money to Wall Street, which is unregulated and corrupt? Thus giving these thieves your money to do with it what ever they dam well please, just on the hopes or premise that you will make a good percentage of it back? If you're in your late 50's, surely you must remember the Savings & Loan debacle, junk bonds, M&A, the vulture capitalists of the dot com and now the housing mess? You have to ask yourself how you can send your hard earned money to thieves who knowingly sold bad mortgages, then split and securitized them into neat little bundles and sold the worthless pieces of shi! all over the globe?????
It would have been much better to invest with the Mafia or Loan Sharks because those people make loans AND get their money back, with interest! Who'd a thunk that the mafia would be more reputable then the crooks on Wall Street?
For the record, after the Crash of 1929 (which everyone is comparing this crash of 2008 to) it took over 27 years for the market to recover and get back to where it was before the crash.
Do you have 27 years just to get back to where you were before? or 10 or 15 or 20??????

I don't.

I'm sick and tired of Wall Street. I got wiped out in 1987 and 2001. But, thankfully, not this time because I never invested another dime with them after the dot com disaster. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Ain't no 3rd time.

I haven't lost one penny!

Petunia 100 said...

Boomie,

What do you mean by "how legal is a system..."? Are you unaware that stock prices are dictated by supply and demand?

If I want to sell you something, should it be illegal that you don't pay the price I want?

Anonymous said...

momthing-If you are selling me a worthless securitized mortgage bundle that you have put together yourself and you knowingly sell me the valueless documents (as our Wall Street investment traders sold to unsuspecting buyers all over the world) then YES! It is illegal.
Just the way it was illegal back in the 1970's when Wall Street sold junk bonds. Same as the Wall Street venture capitalists who loaned billions and billions of it's investors' money to pimple faced computer geeks (back in 2001) rwho didn't know a business plan if it was shoved down their throat, then YES! It's illegal.
Wall Street is unregulated. never was and never will be.
When you send you hard earned money to Wall Street to be invested, do you really know what those brokers are doing with your money?
If you did, if any body did then we wouldn't be having any financial problems, now would we?????

Wall Street is a crap game and (no pun intended) the house ALWAYS wins.

PS: you (and I) are NOT the house.

So, my question: how legal is a system (Wall Street) that can wipe out 5-10 even 15 years of a person's savings (oh, excuse me, investment accounts) in 2 weeks? What kind of a system is that?

Petunia 100 said...

No, transactions between two willing parties are not illegal. You seem to be suggesting they should be. Whom would you like to be in charge of dictating terms?

I get that you are venting, I am just a bit unsure what you propose.

Anonymous said...

OMG. "Transactions between 2 willing parties are not illegal?" So there's this real estate agent who is renting foreclosed properties to unsuspecting families. She collects the first and last months rent from these willing people, plus one month's security, has them sign a lease. A few weeks later, a sheriff shows up at the door to evict the family because technically they are squatting in a foreclosed property. The sheriff looks at the lease and says it's bogus. No such real estate agent exists nor is licensed in the state.
So, according to you there's no problem because the 'real estate agent' and the family were two willing parties?

Good luck with those choices you made with Vanguard. That International Stock Fund looks like a real winner.

Petunia 100 said...

I understand the difference between a legal transaction and fraud. Don't you?

Thank you for the well wishes, which I choose to believe are sincere. Best of luck to you as well.