What is the best lesson you may have learned from the 'Great Recession" (warranties, capitalism)

[John-UK]

The lesson l learned:

1. Do not trust banks.
2. Bank are only after your money.
3. The current economic system can crash at any time.
4. Put your money somewhere safe - like a Cooperative bank.
5. Do not rely on real estate for your future

They are different to the reasons why it crashed and the solution so it never happens again.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

In 2007 I made a statement at the local coffee shop. "Get out of the stock market now and go all cash. A year from now you'll still have your cash if you want to get back in." I did that and a couple of others did it to some degree. They were very happy.

I went a step further. I bought metals and land. It worked for me in 2007. Here we are in 2014. It's time to bail again. Maybe you want to wait until after the election. Don't do that.

My best advice from up here in the woods.

[mathjak107]

i am so surprsied with your predicting ability fidelity hasn't snatched you up for a few million a year in pay.

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by cb73

The Recession taught me that the basic morality that I always believed--or at least hoped--existed in this country is gone.

People that I knew--church-going, supposedly ethical--saw no problem with buying houses they knew they couldn't pay for and then playing the victim card and living in the house without making payments for years--and then complaining at what "the bank" did to their credit rating.

Another person did a cash-out refinance 7 or 8 times and then told me she was walking away from the interest-only loan because it was "their fault for giving me the loans when they knew the value was going to drop".

No integrity. No sense of personal responsibility. Now I wonder if anybody is left with integrity.

The people who had good-paying jobs and walked away from their obligations really bothered me. I was really annoyed by people who went into properties, especially second properties, with little or nothing down, as well as ones that bought right before the housing market spiked and then cashed all the equity out to take vacations and buy new cars only to turn the keys over to the bank in disgust and justify ditching their obligation by saying, "Why should I have to pay for a house that's worth less than what I owe?"

I bought my first property, a condo, in 1988 at an 11 5/8% rate. I watched my property fall 50% during the time I owned it and finally got out about even in 2004. Not once did I consider walking away from my obligation. I aggressively paid down my balance to a point that I could refinance at a lower rate and actually was able to enjoy low monthly costs for several years. I've owned investment properties that I've made money quickly on some, and others I turned into rentals while waiting for the right market conditions. The key is cash. If you are investing in real estate the leverage strategy of using other's money (usually the bank) is dangerous. We are now still suffering from the lax accountability demonstrated during the 2008/2009 collapse. Too many people were allowed to walk away who had the means to meet their obligations. Many lawyers encouraged this behavior and helped them take advantage of programs set up to help those who truly were in trouble, first time home buyers of modest income who lost their jobs and were unable to find new ones. Sadly, we are likely to see many of these immoral practices repeated as I hear many of the same get rich quick schemes being advertised on business shows and talk radio.

[runswithscissors]

People STILL HAVEN'T learned from the recession. OR 40 years of expanding government and central planning Liberalism mentality taking over the education system.

Instead of complaining about what they complain about they completely IGNORE WHY things are the way they are. IE the HIGH COST OF HOUSING all from government imposed growth restrictions ie impact fees. Government pushing stacked urban cores and government dependency - ending up with all renters who are USERS of services instead of buyers who produce. And single female voters who think it's smarter to marry government than another human.

Every building permit in my FL county is for houses over 300K, while the stagnant incomes especially of entry level buyers and people ready to move UP will not even support these houses.

We DO HAVE some really nice public housing and ONE small community of small houses but nothing being built like that for many years now. And the number of small old school ranch houses from the 60s and 70s is finite. So because of GROWTH RESTRICTIONS only BIG HOAS are being approved.

NOW we have AMENDMENT ONE on the ballot Tuesday, allowing FL politicians to BUY PRIVATE PROPERTY with taxpayer dollars and take it off the market under the fake "conservation" label. THEN we have to pay goverment employees to MAINTAIN IT!!! WHAT?

Is it because people DEMAND a 3/2 large house with GRANITE and won't even consider something smaller with formica, and would rather rent?

What contributes to a stable society is HOME OWNERSHIP yet the trend now is to eschew it...because the people actually have no idea what REALLY happened (GREED and STUPIDLY) and believe the politicians.

Home ownership will enable young people to form family formations, create more stability and optimism yet, they can't even consider getting married with this pathetic job situation and stagnant wages....and it's going to get worse when the employer mandate kicks in AFTER THE ELECTION.

Just look around at people thinking it's so CLEVER and CUTE to have Obama and the politicians postpone everything till after the election. OH WIN AT ANY COST!

Since when it it CUTE to be a sneak and manipulate the ignorant? If your policies are so GREAT why are you hiding them and not puting them TO A VOTE??

It's not over yet.

And I guess people will go to their graves CLINGING to the ridiculousness of hating fossil fuel, the ONE THING that would drastically change our economy if the public sector were set free to maximize our energy potentials. Instead of government mandating our toilets, lightbulbs and what our KIDS EAT.

Since when does GOVERNMENT have the right to TURN OFF WATER to California farmers because they "feel like it" and claim a smelt is at "risk" and more important than the farming industry.

Thank goodness some community leaders are figuring it out.

http://rebelpundit.com/chicago-activ...al-leadership/'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUSRZo1BE5o

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by Jeo123

Great Depression - 1930's
Great Recession - 2008-14(ish)...

According the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions) the US recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, and thus extended over 18 months.

No one says the Great Recession lasted until 2014.

[BigCityDreamer]

The Great Recession brought a big change in my life. Huge actually.

I learned how to do something I was trying to do for a long time - invest successfully in the stock market.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

... A starting teacher salary is not enough to live off of and save for retirement but at least I'll have a small pension from this job....I HOPE I thought I'd have one for my engineering job and don't now. 17 years with one company down the tubes in a bankruptcy.

In his excellent book While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis, author Rodger Lowenstein does an excellent job of documenting how defined benefit pensions (and related retiree health care expenses) are not sustainable. Indeed, prior to GMs bankruptcy, its #1 supplier was Blue Cross/Blue Shield for its retirees. Think about that for a moment: one of the largest industrial manufacturers in the world's largest supplier was neither US Steel nor auto parts suppliers, but rather an insurance company.

Defined Benefit pension debts are a major contributor to corporate bankruptcies. Public sector defined benefit pensions also are unsustainable, and of course any trend that is unsustainable in the long run won't be sustained.

[USAGeorge]

Originally Posted by Know Nonsense

What do you think the main cause of the "Great Recession"(oxymoron) was also what is/are the lessons you learned from it? Have you recovered?

That recessions are never caused by poor or middle income people..And they are always the ones who suffer from them...Figure out how to make the rich pay from then and you'll never see another...
And that's the fact of that matter....plain and simple.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by ncole1

Too Much Leverage is a big problem. If I ever see asset prices going up to far in excess of fair valuation based on incomes or profits, due to injections of borrowed money, I'll turn around and run!!

My favorite bumper sticker from shortly after the Dot Com bubble burst:

God, Grant Me One More Bubble Before I Die. I Promise I'll Know When To Sell.