Lost 36% in my 403B

My House is still worth more then what I bought it for 5 years ago.... Houses in NY don't seem to be affected the same way as other states.

Bought my C3 Vette at a great price, did a bunch of work, so it is also worth more then when I bought it in June.

Sold my C5 last summer and beat the crunch that I see on the C5 market now, even the C6 market is dropping.

 

I wish housing was priced more reasonably, I bought my little shack in this tiny town I live in for under $10k, now you can't find a house to buy around here, and if you do you are looking at $100k plus for a mobile home...USED!! Stupid when you can buy a new one for the same price, in better condition. Cause of this situation is the oil patch exploded around here...housing needs here are bad enough that a few folks have bought old run-down motels, picked them up and moved them 100 miles to make a camps for all the workers coming in. If I was to turn around and sell my house, I'd likely triple or quadruple my money easily, but then I'd need to buy another...at a ridiculous price.

 

greyghost, not sure that .02 cents is still worth it. May have to put in out .01 cents worth for now.

 

Well, I don't know. I bought my C3, a mint '79 with 31K original documented miles,numbers matching,and full documentation for 18G's. I started feeling like I paid too much for it,I even started to panic and had thoughts of selling it at a loss,just to re-coup my cash. But every time I go out to the garage and look at it,I'm glad I own it. Now I bought my house 5 years ago for 96.5g's. Two years ago it was worth over 200G's. Now it's robably worth 140G's. But whenever I decide to sell it, I'll get market value, and as long as I buy another house to replace it, I won't lose 'cause the new house will cost less than it would have 2 years ago too. So if I sell my Vette now for say,15G's and take a loss, as long as I buy something to replace it with immediately, that replacement will be correspondingly lower than it would've been had the market not been depressed. You only lose when you sell low and don't replace the item immediately.

 

With regard to all of the commentary, do you feel the current market conditions are permanent or temporary? Does real estate in certain markets always appreciate 39% a year? Does the stock market always produce a return greater than 10.8% per year? Do corrections occur? When appreciation exceeds the norm, is there ever a reversion to the mean?

Anybody ever read John Bogle's book on Mutual funds? Ever read University of Pennsylvania Finance Professor Jeremy Siegel's books on the stock market?

A small investment of time and money to read valuable information can change your perspective. It is easy to make money when markets move up or down.

 

i just landed a job out of state and hope to pay off the few bills and then apply for grad school ....... i figured with a masters, i can always teach....right?????

make due with what you can and keep pushing along....dont be a lazy **** either and expect someone to hand you anything .......

b

 

Teaching does not pay, unless you run the entire University and earn $700,000 to $1,000,000 (please refer to the recent Wall Street Journal Article). Start your own business or get an MBA from a Leading School. I have never had lunch with a wealthy teacher. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad before you make an error.

 

possibly... but considering that having a masters will also open other doors for a person.... i'm thinking more college level anyways.

figure teach nd then have my own design firm on the side......this will keep money in my pocket and i'll still be able to play around in the creative areas without worrying about a check

 

A question for all the 401k people, is your account now worth more than the total dollars you have invested?

I lost 35% of the value on my 401k but it is still worth more than the out of pocket bucks I invested. I just did not make as much.

 

Cash rules.

 

Are the glory days over, the answer: well you tell me...

1976: Oil $10.00/barrel should read 1996
Gold $275.00/oz

2008: Oil $54.00/barrel
Gold $735.00/oz

So is the reserve currency of the world (US dollar)...
going up or going down ?

And will the world be facing: Infation or Deflation?

Rod
Love the Vette

 

Well, I do know this--The glory days are DEFINITELY over for certain things, like: music (today's music is a pitiful joke) Hair and clothing styles (people today look more hideous than ever) Honesty,courtesy,consideration,general niceness,integrity,fun cars for little money--oh hell,I just depressed myself!

 

Sounds like someone didn't grow with the times.

I think today's music has a lot to offer. Yes, there is a lot I don't like, and most I would have hated ten years ago. I'm growing with the times and I have come to respect the music as it changes and not get caught up when everything doesn't sound like it did 15 years ago.

Styles and trends will always change and usually different generations just won't understand why the other dressed the way they did. I look back and am puzzled by the way people dressed back in the '60s and '70s. Do I care? Nope...that's how it was and I can respect that. Today, things are different. You can either go with it and enjoy things the way they are or hate them and be depressed about it.

I mean, hating something doesn't turn it back into the way you remember it and like it.

 

You didn't factor in current and constant dollars.

 

Matt,
The world hasn't really changed. I still wear jeans and t-shirts.

 

adjust for inflation 32 years at 4.5% a year nets a factor of 4. oil would be $40 a barrel,, gold just over $1100 an ounce. a wash. Now the manufacturing capability and annual house hold income, and jobs with paid retirement, that would be interesting to see.

 

100% agree and getting worse,

but to stay on subject, my house was paid for years ago so it really doesn't matter what rise or decline, seen this many times over the years.

Now back to C3 General...

 

Today the Dow fell below 8000 for the first time since 2003.

2003??? That was only 5 years ago. Stocks and housing have been on an unbelievable run for the last 5 years. The run is over and now we are back to reality. Hopefully someone in Washington can stop this slide before it gets mich worse.

 

 

We're seeing that already. People have been taking cash advances on their credit cards and open equity lines, maxing them out "in case they need it" because they heard banks were lowering limits. People closing their 401(k)s and pulling out. Stupid.

Same thing I said about the people who ran out and bought hybrids when the price of gas went up. Was bad enough they were going to have to drive 300,000 miles just to break even on the $10,000 price difference between the hybrid and gasoline version of the same vehicle, now that gas prices are cut in half they're going to have to drive 600,000 miles more. There weren't any savings - you were just giving your money to the car company instead of the oil company.

If people would just take 5 minutes to do the freakin math, they would realize that you never come out ahead when you panic. I'm a full time trader and I also do venture capital, there are still plenty of investments that are doing well and plenty of money to be made right now - just not in the same stuff as we made it on last year. Although if one good thing comes out of this, I hope it's people re-evaluate the way they use credit. I made the decision a couple years ago to be done with debt ... to pay off everything, close my credit cards, even pay off the house. To live only on the money I make and if I can't afford to pay cash then I don't need it. And after doing that, I look around at all of the people who are still doing things the way I used to do them, living paycheck to paycheck when they wouldn't have to if they didn't have so many monthly payments sucking up their income, most of it for crap they never needed in the first place.

Somehow, I have this feeling that it isn't going to stick though. The banks have done a great job convincing people they need to finance their life. That you can't have a car or a house or appliances without their help. That you should worry about your "credit score", an imaginary number that THEY MADE UP, and then CHARGE YOU JUST TO LOOK AT IT every month, so they can help all of their other little bank buddies know how much money they can expect to make off of you. And they've convinced you this is "important". And consumers fall for it every day. I remember the joy I felt when my credit score climbed up to the 740's, then peaked at 783 and it was like "Wow, I really accomplished something" ... yeah - I accomplished letting the banks know what a SUCKER I was for borrowing money that I didn't even need to borrow, carrying balances and paying interest that I didn't need to pay, just to make that little number go higher. Then I woke up. Now that I'm completely debt free, I have no idea what my credit score is... maybe zero, who knows.

All I know is I don't care. I don't have to. When all of your stuff is actually YOURS and not the banks, you only need to make enough money to keep your lights on and your stomach full. Maybe my fellow Americans will WAKE UP and start taking some pride and actual ownership in their lives, instead of letting the banks rent it to them. In the meantime, just enjoy what you have - it doesn't matter what your house and cars are worth unless you plan on selling them. So what if it was worth $100k more two years ago ... are you selling it? No? Then who cares! It never ceases to amaze me how many people's lives haven't been affected AT ALL, yet they still panic.

No, no, no! Sitting around hoping Washington can fix our problems is how we got into this mess in the first place. Those idiots have no idea what they're doing, their only accomplishment is winning a popularity contest. This is an organization that can't balance a checkbook, can't stay within a budget, has about $10 TRILLION worth of debt, changes management every four years, and just PRINTS MONEY at OUR EXPENSE whenever they run out. Why the hell would anyone trust THEM with ANYTHING? Those clowns can't even keep the POST OFFICE out of bankruptcy... I mean, there's an organization that owns real estate in EVERY ZIP CODE IN THE COUNTRY and has a box at EVERY HOUSE IN AMERICA to deliver their product to, and they still don't get it right. How the hell do you screw THAT up??? If UPS and FedEx had that kind of reach, they would be trillion dollar companies! And to think there are actually people out there who want the government to be in charge of HEALTH CARE? Jeeze, I pray I die of old age before that ever happens.

Government isn't the solution here... they're the problem.