Trying to keep life from falling apart, trying to become a person to be proud of.
About Me:
34 yr old female trying to keep it together. I call my financial life a work in progress because though I have always had frugal inclinations I only recently started on an informal financial education with an end goal to make my money work for me! Of course I can be weak. Thai food, traveling, self-justification and laziness eat away at my savings. But I am getting there. I think. I used to be very jealous of the Jones' but now realize that they are broke and stressed so I prefer my own progress and accomplishments. My life may not be flashy but I have seen the consequences of a high-end lifestyle. I count myself lucky to be alive and aware in these economic times because I have learned so much and believe that in the long run I will come out farther ahead from a little suffering now. As long as I am not regressing, then I am pleased.
Fun fact to help navigate my posts: BB = Baseball Boy. My husband.
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My November 2008 Wedding:
Total $23,630...Paid in Full! And had a BLAST!
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Quotes to keep me on track:
"Save FIRST and then spend the leftover, not spend first and save what's left."
"How you spend your money today effects the life you will live tomorrow."
I just heard the stock markets going to tank tomorrow due to a Merrill Lynch buy out. Sigh. I'm still all in...only because I dont know anything else to do.
I don't know about the BoA deal. BoA is not into investment banking. That just isn't their field. Seems like a very odd fit to me. Plus, BoA is still digesting the Countrywide takeover. Very interesting times indeed.
Last I read about it, BoA wasn't interested in any large acquisitions simply because it's still digesting Countrywide. So... yeah, this is news to me!
Truth is, I'm out right now, but if it does go down, I just might go in! So, thanks for letting me know of potential opportunity.
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Oh, and if it eases your mind, financials are only one section of our economy. And not every bank out there played Russian Roulette with sub-prime mortgages.
If you're properly diversified, there's really nothing to worry about, and in fact, this is a great time to dollar-cost-average in your contributions in my opinion....
That said, baselle has a good point. I'm interested to see how the Asian markets react, as well as the futures on Monday. But like I said, I see this as more of a possible buying opportunity than a time to be worried.
Steve Bank of America used to have a primary broker arm and they used to be pretty big in tech in the 90's.
That got out of it in late 2007 because of bad mortgage investments. They went from 1.4 billion to 100 million in one quarter. They acquired Columbia management which had Acorn funds, Nations Funds and some old Bank of Boston funds. They have over 420 billion in assets across 90 funds, Columbia that is.
Keep a diversified portfolio and rebalance once a year. For those keeping score at home, I started a position in the banking sector in March and am adding to it.
I have also been building a position in REITs and will be moving into brokers once the dust settles.
My advice is to use this to truly access your risk tolerance. There is one of 2 things: you need to educate yourself to get more comfortable with the risk or look for safer investments. I don't mean that as a put down.
The answer is a truly diversified portfolio across multiple industries, sizes of companies, countries, and asset classes (bonds, stock, notes, etc,) will help you weather the storm. The other piece is to reallocate your portfolio. In other words, if you feel comfortable with 5% in emerging markets, and all of a sudden emerging markets go through the roof. You could end the year with 8% emerging market exposure, which is more risk in emerging market then you felt comfortable with.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures and the dollar sank late on Sunday as the first official trades of a new business week took place while talks to sell Lehman Brothers faltered, shaking confidence and pushing dollar-exposed investors towards safe haven U.S. Treasuries.
(Advertisement)
U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply in early Asian trade on Monday and Eurodollars surged as concerns about the stability of the U.S. financial system sparked talk of emergency liquidity measures by the Federal Reserve or even a cut in interest rates.
Two-year Treasury notes jumped 20/32 in price, driving yields down to a five-month low of 1.90 percent, from 2.22 percent late in New York on Friday while yields on 10-year notes dropped to 3.56 percent, from 3.72 percent.
U.S. stock index futures pared earlier falls in New York late Sunday, but still pointed to a steep drop when trading begins on Monday, with S&P 500 futures down 28 points and the Dow Jones industrial average futures off 211 points and Nasdaq 100 futures 31 points softer by 2330 GMT (12:30 p.m. British time).
Good! Sounds good to me. The financial sector isn't dead. It's just weeding out the weak who got too greedy. I am fully hoping for near-panic tomorrow. I wanna buy in as low as I can get my grubby hands on.
all your comments and advice has woke up many questions in me. I guess I worry because I dont know much about anything thats going on. Look for questions coming in the future. And Merch- I didnt see it as a put down- I have low risk tolerance. Lower risk tolerance than I thought I would have.
September 15th, 2008 at 02:07 am 1221440853
Lehman Brothers will declare bankruptcy tomorrow.
Merrill Lynch is going to be bought by Bank of America.
The Asian and Europe markets will react to the news first.
Its an historic time for an investor.
September 15th, 2008 at 02:17 am 1221441439
September 15th, 2008 at 02:37 am 1221442674
September 15th, 2008 at 03:34 am 1221446045
Truth is, I'm out right now, but if it does go down, I just might go in! So, thanks for letting me know of potential opportunity.
---
Oh, and if it eases your mind, financials are only one section of our economy. And not every bank out there played Russian Roulette with sub-prime mortgages.
If you're properly diversified, there's really nothing to worry about, and in fact, this is a great time to dollar-cost-average in your contributions in my opinion....
That said, baselle has a good point. I'm interested to see how the Asian markets react, as well as the futures on Monday. But like I said, I see this as more of a possible buying opportunity than a time to be worried.
September 15th, 2008 at 04:33 am 1221449585
That got out of it in late 2007 because of bad mortgage investments. They went from 1.4 billion to 100 million in one quarter. They acquired Columbia management which had Acorn funds, Nations Funds and some old Bank of Boston funds. They have over 420 billion in assets across 90 funds, Columbia that is.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/business/16invest.html
September 15th, 2008 at 04:45 am 1221450314
Keep a diversified portfolio and rebalance once a year. For those keeping score at home, I started a position in the banking sector in March and am adding to it.
I have also been building a position in REITs and will be moving into brokers once the dust settles.
My advice is to use this to truly access your risk tolerance. There is one of 2 things: you need to educate yourself to get more comfortable with the risk or look for safer investments. I don't mean that as a put down.
The answer is a truly diversified portfolio across multiple industries, sizes of companies, countries, and asset classes (bonds, stock, notes, etc,) will help you weather the storm. The other piece is to reallocate your portfolio. In other words, if you feel comfortable with 5% in emerging markets, and all of a sudden emerging markets go through the roof. You could end the year with 8% emerging market exposure, which is more risk in emerging market then you felt comfortable with.
September 15th, 2008 at 04:50 am 1221450634
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures and the dollar sank late on Sunday as the first official trades of a new business week took place while talks to sell Lehman Brothers faltered, shaking confidence and pushing dollar-exposed investors towards safe haven U.S. Treasuries.
(Advertisement)
U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply in early Asian trade on Monday and Eurodollars surged as concerns about the stability of the U.S. financial system sparked talk of emergency liquidity measures by the Federal Reserve or even a cut in interest rates.
Two-year Treasury notes jumped 20/32 in price, driving yields down to a five-month low of 1.90 percent, from 2.22 percent late in New York on Friday while yields on 10-year notes dropped to 3.56 percent, from 3.72 percent.
U.S. stock index futures pared earlier falls in New York late Sunday, but still pointed to a steep drop when trading begins on Monday, with S&P 500 futures down 28 points and the Dow Jones industrial average futures off 211 points and Nasdaq 100 futures 31 points softer by 2330 GMT (12:30 p.m. British time).
Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080914/tbs-uk-markets-global-7318940.html
September 15th, 2008 at 05:34 am 1221453254
Thanks merch!
September 15th, 2008 at 03:05 pm 1221487559