Wheels off the Bus!?! The Financial Meltdown! What to do...?

Finance Wizards FreeRepublic ^ | 9/17/08 | JD Outrider

[JDoutrider]

What are us mere mortals to do in this Financial Meltdown that has seen major financial institutions go bankrupt, many thousands laid off, and the Federal Government using our tax dollars to stem the flow of a new Depression?

How's YOUR I.R.A. doing? No need to answer that one! Do You fear being locked out of your Bank unable to even access your money from a ATM? Got Cash? There is good reason to fear that in the short run... did you know the F.D.I.C. has only Fifty Billion dollars set aside to cover over a TRILLION dollars it guarantees?

Ever hear of a Bank Run? Unknown to many Americans, there already exists what is called a "Slow Bank Run". Of course eventually the FDIC will print up enough dollars to cover all it's insured, but unless this has been prepared for, that will take time. Not to mention what that does to the value of a Buck!

Earlier today I approached some of FreeRepublics finance wizards about a question relevant to all of this... and thought this would be a good place to post a thread that others could learn from, and post about their take on what to do in an unstable financial environment.

A younger friend of ours is panicking about whether, or not, to cashing in his medium value Roth IRA and following my wife and my move in going all cash (which we did in the spring). It appears he is not alone in this worrying! His job is not that stable, and his Wife is on strike at Boeing. I told him I would ask here at FR for advice, my self not that well versed in Roths and IRA's

His Roth is worth over a hundred grand, and invested in mutual funds (uh oh!). He fears that Roth will lose all value in this chaotic market. I don't blame him a bit!

Some of the answers I recieved were "Stay Steady", others told me that if wants to go "all cash" that he could do that within his Roth IRA! Still others told me that this is a great time to bulk up in donations to the Roth as the prices in the market may be at the lowest they'll get!

The advice proffered has included going to straight money markers to selling off everything, grabbing Gold, Bullets, Food and other of lifes daily needs...

So what say You? Hoarding any or all of the above? Should my buddy stay the course?

BTW... I told him to get out and go all cash...

[coconutt2000]

His job is not that stable, and his Wife is on strike at Boeing.

Personally, I think it is a silly time to go on strike.

[kbennkc]

I will benefit from this down period because I intend to buy , buy , buy .

[Jacquerie]

I wonder when it went out of fashion at FR to label a vanity post as vanity?

[Proud_texan]

"I told him to get out and go all cash"

I'm not calling a bottom but historically when amateurs pull out of the market it's a bottom.

It is probably true that one day there will be an end to the world. However I would suggest that market corrections, the cruel month of September and the business cycle happen much more frequently.

[Dutchboy88]

Going to be hard to eat that gold when the bakery cannot operate because you and your buddies all went to gold. Plant your feet and tell the rest of your acquaintences to do the same. The predatory press is exacerbating this to create a message for the Left. You are helping.

[Travis McGee]

Good timing for a general economic thread on FR.

Who knows what will come next, but we’ll have front row seats!

[politicket]

and his Wife is on strike at Boeing

That guy's wife needs to get a different job if she doesn't like her current one. Until then - she needs to get her butt back to work and stop wasting the company's money!

[murdoog]

It is probably true that one day there will be an end to the world. However I would suggest that market corrections, the cruel month of September and the business cycle happen much more frequently.

That's what I would have said last week. But Lehman brothers going under and AIG getting taken over by the government goes beyond standard "cruel month of September" fare.

[Raster Man]

If the bakery cannot operate, maybe the Treasury will step in and bail it out, too. Nationalize the country’s bakery industry!

[Cyber Liberty]

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to start running and screaming with my arms flailing.

[Parley Baer]

I agree. Time for cool heads. Make sure your bank accounts are covered by the FDIC and you are not over the limit. Most of my portfolio is currently in cd’s. The few stocks that I have are not down all that much in comparison to the market. So for me I will be riding out the storm and ready to pick up some bargains.

[boogerbear]

Anybody less than a decade from retiring should ignore their IRA or 401K right now. Yes it’s down, but it will recover.

As for going all cash, don’t bother. If things get so bad back runs start (which is highly unlikely, I mean really how many people who aren’t in the financial business even heard of Lehman before last week) cash won’t be worth anything anyway. Mass bank runs are almost always accompanied by mass inflation.

Really people need to breath deeply and look up some history. We’ve been through worse. We’ve been through much worse. We’ve been through much worse fairly recently (Carter era). People get short memories and forget that the cycle is boom and bust because we’ve had lots of boom lately and our most recent “busts” were barely hickups.

Oh and keep your job and don’t go on strike. No reason to make things more difficult than they have to be.

[microgood]

I guess today means that yesterday was a “Dead Cat Bounce”.

[sweet_diane]

We are lucky. We're so broke that investing is only a dream..something we hope to be able to do before we die! lol

Just heard on the news that the company we pay our mortgage to religiously every two weeks, is trying to sell itself! ACK!

I hope everyone remembers that tough times only make you stronger... and couples should pull together and not apart. There's a quote from scripture on my profile page that gets me thru every single day.

[GoSarah]

BTW, I lost well into 5 digit territory this week.

Don't let emotions dictate decisions. The only rational decision is to stay the course. The fundamentals of the economy really haven't changed, believe it or not. Yeah, the financials sector is tanked, but there's a lot of good stocks being pummelled. Keep putting in money into index funds -- not mutual funds, index funds, preferably Vanguard ones that have super low expense ratios.

When a company's fundamentals change for the worse, sell. When a company's fundamentals change for the better such that it becomes undervalued, buy. Otherwise, do nothing. These are the only two rules of investing to live by, but these are the hardest rules.

Or, to put it in another perspective: McDonald's will be around long, long after we all die. And if they're around and thriving, their stocks will be too.

[JDoutrider]

For your information newbie thread cop, this was placed in CHAT!!!

Is that OK with you???

[xsrdx]

BTW... I told him to get out and go all cash...

Oh, definitely. I find it does best stuffed under the mattress.

How many actual companies do you see going under? AIG, Merrill Lynch and Lehman traded derivatives that depended on a perpetually appreciating real estate economy to maintain their value. Not surprisingly, it was a house of cards propped up by inflated home prices.

News flash, houses are not investments, contrary to what your realtor tells you.

This is no different than the dot com spasm, chickens are coming home to roost.

But by all means, panic if it makes you feel better.

[callthemlikeyouseethem]

how about if everybody in debt up to their eyeballs used their tax stimulus money to file BK too?

[bvw]

Cash could become a cinder before you even see a flame.