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Given the current environment, do you feel like you've been taken for one long ride? Values of homes, 401K and other investments have decreased substantially. Should we rethink investments options? Should we return to the basics - simple savings. Should we even listen to the so-called experts anymore! 2008 was a terrible year, and I've lost faith in the system. Is anyone else angry?
Well ;ther expertst have always advised that the normal; investor should not have near as much per cenatge wise invested in stocks. The system never gauaranteed anything as being like a svings account.Many p[eope onyl have a 401K because they had matching funds contributed by their employers and should of course have a savings account besides.I can't say that I am angry as i only risked what I could afford and am still ahead.
I'm not angry - ALL things are cyclacle (sp?) - houses go up, they go down. Live within your means, ride things out. Don't spend all you make, make responsible decisions as to savings, plans for the future. Don't buy the "latest gotta have it" (you don't). We would ALL survive if we had regular landline phones with answering machines for instance. We would ALL survive if we bought homes within our means. We would ALL survive if we did not toss out appliances, clothes, etc. because they were "last years color or style".
Just an observation. But the new pres. elect went on record today saying the economy will likely continue to slide south, unemployment will grow higher, and things will get worse, at least thru 2009. I think he might be feeling like a sucker right now.
As bad as they say it is......WE will feel like suckers, if we think they're telling us the whole story as it stands today. Theyre giving fair warning, I think we got some surprises coming.
You should be angry if you are close to retirement.... if you are young, then you got a GOLD mine of an opportunity... if you are using homes as an investment, YOU took yourself for a ride.. a home should be just that, A HOME.... it is NOT for making money (although you could if you are LUCKY enough).... if you bought a home for investment out of greed for money, you got what you deserve... the only thing that you should be angry about is how your investments have done and they probably have done very badly... this WAS expected, unfortunately, your financial advisor sucked (as do 99% of them out there)... a bunch of overpaid do-nothings...
Well ;ther expertst have always advised that the normal; investor should not have near as much per cenatge wise invested in stocks. The system never gauaranteed anything as being like a svings account.Many p[eope onyl have a 401K because they had matching funds contributed by their employers and should of course have a savings account besides.I can't say that I am angry as i only risked what I could afford and am still ahead.
Actually the magazines Kiplinger's and Money started changing the percentage on recommendations to a heavier mix of equities over bonds a few years ago before the bottom fell out.
They said it was to keep ahead of inflation.
With all due respect, feeling duped has more to do with the assumptions with which you live your life than any perceived inequities that make you feel "angry". This is to say, the difference between you and say me, is that you accept these "investment" vehicles, actually check that, you NEED these "investment" vehicles to net you an inflated return to substantiate your future life whereas I don't, thence I'm not sweating the current economic environment any further than a concern for day to day employablility, which is common among all.
Considering homes as ATM machines that owe you (and you need them to) double digit appreciation and "never lose value", accepting 401Ks as the retirement mater salvatori incarnate (as opposed to what they are, a perma-paycut that will still leave your retirement underfunded) and pawning off pensions as burdensome liabilities not worth fighting for, putting all your eggs on the stock market because the experts (the ponzi scheme owners more accurately) tell you that's where the cheese is at, all these things were your CHOICE, and ignorance or willful wishful thinking on your part does nothing to temper that reality.
In contrast, I believe in chasing a job with a pension (I also believe a PBGC'd pension is better than any 401K any day of the week), living under my means and looking at a house as a liability whose only purpose is to put a roof over my head and shall not require more than 50% of my liquid reserves to either acquire or maintain on any given period. I believe in leaving the rest of my cash in emergency reserves and having cost of living for a couple of months always on hand. I believe in driving cars until the wheels fall off them, buying used cars which have already depreciated on the hands of suckers you include yourself among. I believe in never financing consumption and telling my (yet to exist) children that college is the high school diploma of the 21st century and that they'll get an excellent in-state education paid for by their father and if they choose to follow the suckers assumptions and chase an out-of-state tuition they'll have to get it on their own. All these "beliefs" are equally voluntary on my part and certainly won't net me the overinflated lifestyle Americans feel entitled to by mere virtue of their citizenship. But what it does net me is the peace of mind and economic solace that I'll never feel cheated in times like these, nor "angry" because houses have lost value, 401Ks have deflated, and stocks crashed, for it didn't affect the assumptions under which I live my life. I am angry about living under a corporate plutocracy, and among a population of obedient wages slaves that are too soft-bellied to know any better and take the red pill, but I'm not angry about the bubbles bursting and the expectations of the suckers readjusting. Your loss of faith in the system is a good thing in my eyes, for all you lost faith in is the artificial assumptions (which granted, could have held true for baby boomers) that are being debunked in times like these. Changing those assumptions is but a voluntary action on your part, nobody owes you anything.. good luck.
I don't understand why more people didn't see this coming. My DH and I were buying and selling homes in FL 5 years ago. We couldn't keep up with the monthly increases on these homes. It was insane. We got out and sold our last home 3 years ago. We knew without a doubt that prices couldn't continue to go up. We also got out of the stock market before it fell apart.
For 3 1/2 years we have lived and traveled the country in our motorhome. We have noticed a huge decline throughout the country. Pride seems to be gone. Work ethic is gone. Americans have a negative savings rate and they have been spending and spending more getting into more debt. Of course this can't last. Things are bad.
Last spring my DH and I found our private paradise and built an off grid home. It's a very secure feeling to know that if things get really bad at least we did the best we could.
We also always live within our means.
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