Anyone else losing money today?

[roadfix]

Yes but what I'm trying to understand is that your bank will only insure one account with the FDIC up to $100.000 but it will not cover your other accounts meaning one must take other accounts to other banks to get the insurance?

That's 100,000 total per bank regardless of what types or how many different accounts you carry with that particular bank.
If you have more than 100k in one bank, take some of that money and move it to another bank.

 

[DramaQueen]

Yes but what I'm trying to understand is that your bank will only insure one account with the FDIC up to $100.000 but it will not cover your other accounts meaning one must take other accounts to other banks to get the insurance?

Yes and no. I am insured up to $300,000 because everything is in my trust and my 2 children inherit the trust, therefore they are insured for $100,000 each as am I. Some IRA retirement accounts are insured up to $250,000. Otherwise you are only insured up to $100,000 at any one institution. If you have savings account, CD, money market account etc. and you are the only name on the account you can lose anything over $100,000. If you and your spouse have a joint account, then you are insured for $100,000 each. BUT remember that your bank or savings institution must carry FDIC insurance to begin with for you to be insured for any amount.

 

[roadfix]

 

[Saphellae]

Financial institutions in Canada are dropping their interest rates on loans up to .5% as of today to kill the credit crunch, as well as different rate drops from other countries as well. Heard that at work today. Also a bunch of other countries are starting bailout programs like the US.

 

[roadfix]

^^^^ As a result of the fed's action this morning the 5% CD that Drama Queen and I purchased last week has now dropped to 3% as of today.

 

[DramaQueen]

^^^^ As a result of the fed's action this morning the 5% CD that Drama Queen and I purchased last week has now dropped to 3% as of today.

Aren't you glad we bought when we did? The best rate now is an 8 month CD at 3.9%. My best friend has as much in her Fidelity account as I put into my 2 CD's 2 weeks ago. She lost 8,000 dollars in the same amount of time. I made money. Sometimes it pays to cut bait. I'm too old for the "long haul." LOL.

All joking aside, this is a very scary situation and I'm afraid for people with families who have most of their money invested in stocks.

 

[pdswife]

we've now lost enough to pay off our house... ...

 

[roadfix]

Well, I'm playing poker at home with my in-laws tomorrow night. Perhaps I can recoup a small fraction of the money I lost the last few days in the market. Who wants to play? I'm doing some spare ribs too. ....

 

[Toots]

I worked up the courage to look at my 401K today and it is down about 25 % since August. NOT GOOD. I hopped on the phone and asked Charles Schwab about rebalancing the whole thing to reduce my losses. Actually the advisor told me that I am still in good shape and with rebalancing and time, I'll be OK. I guess this is the consolation for knowing that I have to work til I'm 70 ("only" 28 more years to go.....)

I really feel for those who dont have time to make up the losses - the market is not going to right itself anytime soon.

 

[Saphellae]

If you have a good advisor, you should be diversified enough to be able to ride it out. Everyones stocks/bonds are down right now, but they will go back up. Values fluctuate anyways, this is just a more extreme fluctuation. Hold onto your stuff! ^^ It is easy for me to say though, I'm in Canada and we are not getting hit as bad.. they actually evaluated the structures of countries and Canada has the best to cope with this kind of thing.

 

[Constance]

We are holding tight. We don't owe anyone any money, except that our insurance costs us $20,000 a year, because we have so many pre-existing conditions. All will be well when we get on Medicare, if it still exists.

I am glad we taught the grandson how to hunt, catch fish, and make a garden. Who knows what lies ahead?

I do have faith in humankind...I believe we can beat this, if we stick together.

Love and Peace...

Connie

You know, the old hippy in me still says that we can change the world, one person at a time.

 

[AmericaWestCMH]

Made some money daytrading these wild swings. Still up about 5% for the year. I'll take it.

 

[Toots]

You know, the old hippy in me still says that we can change the world, one person at a time.

Thank God for old Hippies Connie! We need more people with this kind of attitude.

 

[GotGarlic]

I worked up the courage to look at my 401K today and it is down about 25 % since August. NOT GOOD. I hopped on the phone and asked Charles Schwab about rebalancing the whole thing to reduce my losses. Actually the advisor told me that I am still in good shape and with rebalancing and time, I'll be OK. I guess this is the consolation for knowing that I have to work til I'm 70 ("only" 28 more years to go.....)

You haven't actually lost the money until you sell. Rebalancing is selling one asset to buy more of another. If you were thinking about selling stock to buy more bonds, that's a mistake.

It's funny that people (not you, necessarily, just in general) usually know that the rule is to buy low and sell high, but when the market drops people panic and sell. That's backward

The thing about CDs is that, while the money is safe, the interest paid may not be enough to beat inflation. For example, if inflation is 5% this year, and you have a CD paying 3%, you're losing 2% of your purchasing power on that money. That's why, for the long term, stocks are a better deal - the average percentage is usually more than the average inflation rate over a period of years.

Personally, though, I don't have the time or inclination to do the work of determining which stocks I should invest in, so I go with stock mutual funds. Just about everything is down right now, but that's the beauty of dollar-cost averaging I repeat that like a mantra: dollar-cost averaging, dollar-cost averaging , dollar-cost averaging ...

 

[roadfix]

Personally, though, I don't have the time or inclination to do the work of determining which stocks I should invest in, so I go with stock mutual funds. Just about everything is down right now, but that's the beauty of dollar-cost averaging I repeat that like a mantra: dollar-cost averaging, dollar-cost averaging , dollar-cost averaging ...

I've never made money trading individual stocks. I've had much better luck with baskets of stocks like the Q's, for instance, and holding them longer term. I do this with Etrade.

As for mutual funds I wish I had the discipline to dollar cost average. I tend to make contributions in spurts.....and always at the wrong time, it seems like. I've been happy with Vanguard as their fees are very low and service good.

 

[justplainbill]

The thing about CDs is that, while the money is safe, the interest paid may not be enough to beat inflation. For example, if inflation is 5% this year, and you have a CD paying 3%, you're losing 2% of your purchasing power on that money. That's why, for the long term, stocks are a better deal - the average percentage is usually more than the average inflation rate over a period of years. ..

For those who have to pay income tax on their CD income, funds in a CD paying 5% will still suffer erosion of buying power if inflation is at 5%.

 

[roadfix]

Regardless of the inflation rate or tax consequences the bottom line on CD's is that they're more practical than stashing a lot of cash under the mattress as I used to do.

 

[GotGarlic]

As for mutual funds I wish I had the discipline to dollar cost average. I tend to make contributions in spurts.....and always at the wrong time, it seems like. I've been happy with Vanguard as their fees are very low and service good.

We each have 10% of our net income transferred automatically into retirement accounts that are invested in mutual funds. That's what dollar-cost averaging means - invest a specific amount every week, month, whatever, no matter what the price is, and over time, you will accumulate more shares than you would if you tried to time the market.

 

[roadfix]

We each have 10% of our net income transferred automatically into retirement accounts that are invested in mutual funds. That's what dollar-cost averaging means - invest a specific amount every week, month, whatever, no matter what the price is, and over time, you will accumulate more shares than you would if you tried to time the market.

Yes, I had my financial institution set up for monthy auto invest into my mutual funds. That lasted a few years until I stopped it. I thought I could do better by timing the market... Bad move. I might go back to dollar cost averaging.

 

[NAchef]

I am down 30% for the year. Yuck!!