Savings in Wall Street and Dow 9,000

I'm listening to the news and the pundits are all decrying how so many people have lost their savings that were invested in stocks.

It occurred to me that there was the problem.

Since when, in America, did the stock market become a place for a family's savings?

I thought that Wall Street and the Stock Market was a place for speculation and investment, not savings.

It used to be that in America many common citizens felt the stock market was a form of gambling.

Now the illusion is unveiled and that illusion is that American citizens should ever park their money in the stock market and let it ride. The average citizen does not have the access to information needed or the time needed to monitor the markets closely to play this game.

If Americans actually had savings in bank accounts, the banking failures would be less likely and economic impact from market corrections would have a less severe impact on our total economy.

The scam going on in this country is so deep that there should have been calls from DC politicians over the last several years encouraging Americans to SAVE! SAVE! SAVE!

I never heard that call from a so called leader in DC. Anyone else hear it? Did I miss it?

W

WE have kept up till today. We saw the stock market fluctuate and even drop terribly.

Have not heard anything yet in people actually using it as a means to "save" money. Would not surprise me though.

Absolutely foolish!

Even if there was a faint "call" for people to save, the government surely
didnt set a good example.

You have some good points there. We unfortunately joined that new
way of gaining wealth, and are feeling the pain. We wanted a better
return on our money but now if this keeps up we wont have anymore
than if we buried in the back yard....which, I might add, is a darn good
idea, and all coins, silver at that!

It might be better to bail and pay the tax hit and have some "change"
left!

Selling Accelerates as Dow Plunges Below 9K

The Dow slipped below the 9,000 level for the first time since August 2003 Thursday afternoon as the markets threaten to close in the red for the seventh consecutive day.

Today's Market

As of 3:26 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial fell 339.37 points or 3.70%, to 8915.34, the broad S&P 500 dropped 43.13 points, or 4.38%, to 941.81 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 45.25 points, or 2.59%, to 1695.18. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 dropped 29.36 points, or 3.97%, to 710.34.

“Having an eight-handle on the Dow is a scary picture but it's just representative of what we’ve seen over the last 10 trading days. It's pretty scary business," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. “It’s just unheard of. We’re getting to that point where it's impossible not to think we’re hitting a bottom."

continued at link.....
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/market ... nce-rally/

The $700B bailout scam was supposed to stabilize the stock market. In fact, it's done the exact opposite. Every day since the bailout passed, the market has plunged -- big-time.

People have lost alot of money in 401K plans offered by their companies. Many people have stock in the company they work because it is given to them thru time. This is part of their retirement. When prudential lost 10 points in their stock today that had a direct effect on my wife because she has worked there and holds their stock.

I have a feeling this is all an effort to socialize the western world into possibally one Gov. Might be far fetched but our ability to function as our own country is being atacked by our own Gov. There was no need for a bailout and it sure didnt do what they said it would do.

When are we going to get these idiots out of office? We the people keep putting up with this government and nothing seems to ever change, only get worse!!

The government will never tell americans to save because its invested in the credit bubble, the consumption bubble and the "give us your money" philosophy.

Theylook at us as nothing more than something to use up!

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Originally Posted by ALIPAC

I'm listening to the news and the pundits are all decrying how so many people have lost their savings that were invested in stocks.

It occurred to me that there was the problem.

Since when, in America, did the stock market become a place for a family's savings?

I thought that Wall Street and the Stock Market was a place for speculation and investment, not savings.

It used to be that in America many common citizens felt the stock market was a form of gambling.

Now the illusion is unveiled and that illusion is that American citizens should ever park their money in the stock market and let it ride. The average citizen does not have the access to information needed or the time needed to monitor the markets closely to play this game.

If Americans actually had savings in bank accounts, the banking failures would be less likely and economic impact from market corrections would have a less severe impact on our total economy.

The scam going on in this country is so deep that there should have been calls from DC politicians over the last several years encouraging Americans to SAVE! SAVE! SAVE!

I never heard that call from a so called leader in DC. Anyone else hear it? Did I miss it?

W

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If you have a 401K, you've lost some savings. I think that is what they are speaking of.

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Originally Posted by Populist

The $700B bailout scam was supposed to stabilize the stock market. In fact, it's done the exact opposite. Every day since the bailout passed, the market has plunged -- big-time.

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The bailout was primarily aimed at easing the credit market not the stock market. By injecting money into the banks' reserves (thus more cash available to be lent out) small business owners would have the needed credit to continue paying their employees or purchasing capital immediately to grow their business.

Even the most conservative investors with an IRA have money invested in the stock market. :(

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Originally Posted by CoolHead

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Originally Posted by Populist

The $700B bailout scam was supposed to stabilize the stock market. In fact, it's done the exact opposite. Every day since the bailout passed, the market has plunged -- big-time.

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The bailout was primarily aimed at easing the credit market not the stock market. By injecting money into the banks' reserves (thus more cash available to be lent out) small business owners would have the needed credit to continue paying their employees or purchasing capital immediately to grow their business.

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Yes i'm well aware of the credit aspect which has been repeated ad nauseum. But one of the talking points to sell this to middle America was that this would stabilize the stock market, 401Ks etc.

Any smart saver knows to diversify. Never put everything in one basket. Can't imagine people depending upon only their stock through their company for retirement.

We have an adviser and are supposed to be well diversified. Mutual funds,
cash, emerging markets, precious metals and a few bonds which should
work but with the rest of the world going down the tubes, no one is safe.
There is no safe haven, but the backyard that is!!!!

After watching and listening to all the economist, I closed my 401K. I am glad I did, since if I hadn't I would have lost another 10%. My eggs were not in one basket, we have a large pension, no bills and our house is paid for. This unfortunately puts us in a high tax bracket with no write offs the government will reap the benefits. I know alot of baby boomers are in the same position as myself, and I wonder at times if this wasn't a way of shaking loose some of that tax deferred money that we were setting on.

All this bailout did was give the CEO's their golden parachutes. AIG got their bailout money and had a big soiree at some resort at the tune of almost 1/2 a million dollars. We are being played for fools again.

The only good thing about this crisis is that oil is dropping dramatically. Maybe soon gas will be where it should be. I hope all those big oil tycoons go bankrupt.

When are we going to stop paying taxes to this corrupt government??

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Originally Posted by Populist

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Originally Posted by CoolHead

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Originally Posted by Populist

The $700B bailout scam was supposed to stabilize the stock market. In fact, it's done the exact opposite. Every day since the bailout passed, the market has plunged -- big-time.

---

The bailout was primarily aimed at easing the credit market not the stock market. By injecting money into the banks' reserves (thus more cash available to be lent out) small business owners would have the needed credit to continue paying their employees or purchasing capital immediately to grow their business.

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Yes i'm well aware of the credit aspect which has been repeated ad nauseum. But one of the talking points to sell this to middle America was that this would stabilize the stock market, 401Ks etc.

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I guess it just did not resonate with investors. Government can't really do anything to control the way investors feel. If investors would just turn of their television sets or stop reading the news, the market would not be declining so much.

Anyways, at least this gives people like me who have no investments what so ever a chance to get in cheap and help the market get back up.

A persons saving should never be put in the stock market...playing the stock market should only be done with money you can afford to lose.

401K's we were told were the safe way to go when corporations, mines etc. across the country were closing down, or moving out of the country and people lost their pensions. Its like every few years they figure a way to screw the next generation out of their retirement.

Here we go again...looks like if you want a retirement to be there when you are ready to retire you better just have cold hard cash because you can not trust the thief's.

And then again inflation is going to get us in the end....so we just can not win.

If obama gets in office we haven't seen anything yet!

I am investing heavily in food, dried goods, medicine and paper goods at the moment, it could save 30 to 40 per cent on every dollar you have down the road as prices keep rising and they will....to help get through this recession and in the long run save me money.

BTW...our biggest problem is no manufaturing jobs for decent wages, as for the trade they are speaking of, we have very little to trade any more..

I am looking to purchase an upright freezer, well don't hold your breath while looking for one make in America because you will be dead before you find one! :roll:

Next question is what country out there do I want to support?

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Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Since when, in America, did the stock market become a place for a family's savings?


W

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No you're absolutely right. Much of it is fear-mongering. I used to work for a brokerage.

Our brokers always adhered to the philosophy that you shouldn't have money in the stock market if you expected to need in in the next 5 years.

Retirees shouldn't have any retirement money by the time they retire. THey should be entirely in bonds and fixed income instruments.

Might I add that my old firm didn't lose any money when the junk bonds collapsed in the '80's, didn't have money invested in the tech sector, and also steered clear of the mortgages in the 2000's.

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Originally Posted by LuvMyCountry

People have lost alot of money in 401K plans offered by their companies. Many people have stock in the company they work because it is given to them thru time. This is part of their retirement. When prudential lost 10 points in their stock today that had a direct effect on my wife because she has worked there and holds their stock.

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I'd be willing to bet she's still not at a net loss if you count the money that her employer matched. And was she participating in an ESOP, getting a discount on the market value of the shares?

But one of the reasons that Enron employees got such a hard shaft was that they were required to keep all their money in Enron stock.

Even Grandma knew that keeping all your eggs in one basket was a bad idea. Prudential probably has it's various funds available to the 401K participants.

Anybody with money in the market lost unrealized profit, but most of the 401k participants are still showing a net profit.

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Originally Posted by butterbean

Even the most conservative investors with an IRA have money invested in the stock market. :(

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IRA's can buy bonds.

Rule of thumb - your age should equal your bond position percentage. So if you're 40, 40% of your money should be in bonds.

Yup, if you're young, have a long time horizon etc., now is a good time to do some research, and think about getting into some low cost quality mutual funds or ETFs.

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Originally Posted by LuvMyCountry

I have a feeling this is all an effort to socialize the western world into possibally one Gov. Might be far fetched but our ability to function as our own country is being atacked by our own Gov. There was no need for a bailout and it sure didnt do what they said it would do.

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China and France called for a one world currency and government four days ago. You are not wrong.

Yes most people's 401K's have diversity in them. Stocks, bonds, savings. If you invest in a mutual fund make sure it is a Growth Mutual Fund with over 10 years experience.

I heard of one man who had $33 million in cash and took $25 million out of the states and put it in Switzerland. They have been the most stable through wars etc. Now if the wealthy are doing that. . .. . you figure it out.
I've been saying for awhile, we don't have much but I'm thinking of taking it off shore. You have to be careful with that too.

AngelaTC wrote:

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Might I add that my old firm didn't lose any money when the junk bonds collapsed in the '80's, didn't have money invested in the tech sector, and also steered clear of the mortgages in the 2000's.

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Could that firm have been Drexel Burnham Lambert? We were the premier junk bond creators and traders in the 1980's. Unfortunately, Mr. Mike Millken had the pump-and-dump scheme in the bond market, where a select circle of folks (like Meshulam Riklis of Rapid American Corp.) would issue the bonds, to be mostly bought by the rest of the gang, making the product seem more valuable, even though there was really nothing behind the whole mess except fancy accounting.