Financial markets implode

I saw it in the news... Bad news definitively.

 

Yeah, I saw it too. Wasn´t it Lehman Brothers or something like that ?

 

The government doesn't have enough money to fight in Iraq, and bail out failing banks... the United States has backed itself into a really deep economic hole.

 

If you have a 401k and you are young, ignore the current slump. All it means is you'll get a lot more for your money now, then profit after the market bounces. The worst thing you can do is sell low.

 

Paypal has gigantic pips (meaning converting currency using paypal is really fucking expensive). I'd suggest using a forex account, or opening an EUR account in a bank, they're cheap.

Conversely, you can just buy huge lumps of gold.

 

The US is still the biggest economy, so you are going to drag us with you. Most banks in Europe cleaned up a lot after the last banking crisis so we will probably live a bit more confortably, but still...

 

Well because of this crysis, the ibovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange), just today, went down 7,59%. The biggest fall since 9/11.

The dollar raised 1,74%, at 1 dollar = 1,81 Reais.

So, thank you America :dammit:

 

AIG is in trouble too.

I bought gold at $358 an ounce years ago. LOTS of gold. Later again at just over $500. I've never sold a single ounce of it although when it cracked $1000 I did consider it. Safest investment I've ever made.

I'm in Canada so I'm glad my dollar has even reached as high as $1.10US last November as I buy alot from the states.

 

Ahem...

1: Where have you been the last 8 months?
2: The world will keep on spinning.

Asia opened today (after a 3-day weekend in Japan) and the dollar didn't tank any more than it did in the US, and the market hasn't really moved that much to be honest. In the winter when it hit 101 against the yen on Friday, it dropped to < 96 on the Japanese Monday. Now that was a truly bad day. Good times aren't ahead, but it's just another scar on a very well-bruised face.

Best statement in this thread. Slumps happen. Nature of the beast. I will say I'm glad I haven't made any contributions to my position though. This is a great time to do absolutely nothing w/ your money but spend it.

Also good advice.

 

If you've got money then good investing opportunities are definately opening up. You should always have a mix of safe & risky investments. If you've been pumping your money into risky for a while, then moving your existing money into safe investments while putting a bit of money into risky ones is probably a good idea. But you should be reviewing that constantly anyway. If you are charged a fee for moving your money around, then make sure it's worth moving it.

Repossesions in sought after areas are worth looking for. Banks with cashflow issues and lots of property might get jittery. It's likely that the property market will bounce back in a few years, like it has in the UK. It's dropped a bit in the last couple of years. But house prices trippled after the last slump. I didn't capitalise on it & I would kick myself for it, if it would help....

 

I'm paranoid about gold though. I know it's safe for now, but what if someone invents a cheap way to produce gold, or some country finds a huge stack of gold somewhere etc. Entire investment ruined.

But yeah, you should always diversify.

 

I know a guy that invests his money *ONLY* in gold. Of course, he's laughing at everyone at the moment.

I buy a few mutual funds and that's it. The funds themselves diversify. Yeah this year is absolutely fucking terrible, but it's not like I'm going to lose my shirt. Lost way less than had I been dicking around w/ stocks.

 

You shoot out gushing steams of smart in just about every thread, GaijinPunch.

Sure, Its a scary time. A bunch of banks will fail, some stronger ones will buy others out. Its just the market compensating for all of the stupid we've been pumping into it for the last decade

 

If someone found a cheap way to invest gold, he's the guy you want to put your money in!! heh

 

Here in Uruguay the dollar raised too, from UY$19.50 to UY$22.

Anyway, like the dollar's price was constantly falling and I get paid in dollars I'm used to change my money to pesos as soon as possible to not lose it, but luckily for some reason I forgot to change it this week, I think I'll keep it in dollars for the moment and see what to do when the whole situation gets a bit more stable.

 

And the cool part is, it's not rocket science.

 

There's not really a great deal anyone can do right now in order to save themselves from the fallout from this damned credit crunch.

It's probably not a great time to invest in any banking / insurance / pension companies as nobody knows what is around the corner or which companies are going to be able to continue trading. Who the hell thought Meryll Lynch and Lehman Brothers were in such a desperate position?

Simply put, if this keeps going on then Governments will not be able to 'save' businesses. They'll just go into bankruptcy as they cannot all be saved by the public purse.

This is what shit business models and unsound investment plans leads to, Lehman's fell because they acted as a lender to almost every other bank and it was obvious that they were never going to see that money again.

At one point my own bank sank in value by 17% but I didn't panic and go withdraw every penny... not just yet!

The best comment thus far has been "Alistair Darling" (Chancellor of Exchequer in the UK) who said 'the banking services have been having a bit of a difficult time recently'. Understatement or what?

I did think some of the comments were quite funny and reminded me of the 1980s when the Government here issued a public guide to surviving a nuclear attack. Everyone was imagining that stocking up on tinned food, hiding under a table covered in white sheets and keeping the cat in was going to save them!

We are not as bad as Zimbabwe just yet ;-)

 

For some reason all I can see in my head is the diabeetus guy ejaculating everywhere now. =(

Just like when gaijinpunch had pat o brien as his avatar, he suddenly becomes that avatar.