Economic stimulus

[HerefordSire]

RD-Sam....here is a daily chart where one candle equals one day. Notice the wick of today's candle. Notice the candle wicks of the last two most recent major lows along the white line where price bounced upward. I have two circles on the chart...one green and one red. Strong buy in the red circle (around 6550 or so) and strong buy in the green circle (around 7,525) AFTER the downward sloping red dotted line in penetrated upward. Both would be good buys. If you want to be more aggressive than that, I can drill down to a smaller time frame chart and show you want I would do.

 

[backhoeboogie]

For some it might actually be a bail out.

For the rest of us it will just be bailing, and bailing and bailing. Some how we have to keep the boat afloat.

If you borrow the money for a $150K house it will cost you $425 before you are done paying it off. That is why I don't like to borrow. Ever. Borrowing this bail out money bothers the heck out of me.

 

[HerefordSire]

For some it might actually be a bail out.

For the rest of us it will just be bailing, and bailing and bailing. Some how we have to keep the boat afloat.

If you borrow the money for a $150K house it will cost you $425 before you are done paying it off. That is why I don't like to borrow. Ever. Borrowing this bail out money bothers the heck out of me.

It is different for a government to borrow than it is for an individual. Variables like currency debasement can lower previous existing debt. Also, loans can provide leverage as long as the return on investment is higher than the interest rate.

 

[john250]

For some it might actually be a bail out.

For the rest of us it will just be bailing, and bailing and bailing. Some how we have to keep the boat afloat.

If you borrow the money for a $150K house it will cost you $425 before you are done paying it off. That is why I don't like to borrow. Ever. Borrowing this bail out money bothers the heck out of me.

What if we spend/borrow near a trillion $ and nothing happens, economically. The markets still tank and people are still not working? What is the fallback? A trillion shoots the stimulus wad. Then we are down to that Zimbabwe currency that was posted a while back. Coca Cola and a pack of smokes? That will be $100,000.43, please. Would you like to super-size that for another $50,000? Even if Misty is coloring her hair with jello to save money, it is going to cost her $4750 for a dye job.
It ain't pretty.

 

[HerefordSire]

I heard on the news the other evening....if we spent $1,000,000 per day since Christ was born, a trillion dollars would last longer than today.

 

[Jogeephus]

For some folks this is just a paper loss of assets they do not need, and would end up being willed so someone else in their estate.

For most folks who don't buy lottery tickets - - this is or was part of their retirement plan and now they are going to have to revisit that.

I'm 47. For me, it was the bulk of my retirement and my ability to survive when I'm too feeble minded to work my regular job (the feeble minded part seems like it might be coming sooner than later... ).

I started pondering the idea last night of cashing in my 401k and paying off my house note. What's to lose? I'd pay a 10% penalty on the 50% of the account that is left. There won't be much in the way of capital gains to pay, and I hear those are going up at some point anyway... Is that a stupid idea? At least I'd be assured they don't take the house from me when all heck breaks loose.

Been thinking about paying off mine to. I've always paid extra on mine cause I never actually believed my accountant or the smart business people when they said it was good to owe money for a deduction. I don't know about cashing in your 401K though. That would be a hard decision since you haven't really lost anything till you sell it. If faith can be restored in Walstreet and DC, then things should pick up. But if DC lets these crooks walk with a little slap on their hand, it will be years before I ever trust the little POS.

Probably the simplest thing to do is ask yourself what would Nancy P say and do the exact opposite.

 

[1982vett]

Just something to think about. For those that have Traditional IRA's, depending on your own circumstances and how you have it invested, this year could present a good opportunity to recharacterize to a Roth IRA. In my case, the value of the IRA I have is not a large amount. I have been ineligible to contribute because of 401K or no earned income. I did contributed to the 401K and a ROTH IRA while eligible. This year looks to be a year with very little taxable income, so paying taxes on the IRA conversion to a ROTH IRA will not effect taxable income. Also I expect to be in a lower tax bracket this year (actually as of now I don't expect to owe any income tax).

Pros - I can successfully covert all (or part) without paying income tax (at least the tax rate will be reduced). All gains from here will be tax free.

Cons - At this point I don't see any (other than the way it was invested to produce a 60% loss).

 

[Lammie]

Steve lost half of his 401K last year. He was contributing the maximum amount since Clayton is good at matching it and we wanted to get ahead a little on retirement. He has since decreased the amount he is contributing, since we would rather spend that money on ourselves rather than financing another AIG retreat. Looks like retirement at seventy, at a minimum, instead of 60 like we had planned. I am afraid to think of what is happening to the Texas Teacher Retirement System right now.

 

[john250]

Retirement? What's that?

 

[1982vett]

Retirement? What's that?

A dream, a fantasy world.

re⋅tire⋅ment
Pronunciation [ri-tahyuhr-muhnt] –noun
1. the act of retiring or the state of being retired.
2. removal or withdrawal from service, office, or business.
3. the portion of a person's life during which a person is retired.
4. a pension or other income on which a retired person lives: His retirement is barely enough to pay the rent.
5. withdrawal into privacy or seclusion.
6. privacy or seclusion.
7. a private or secluded place.
8. Military. orderly withdrawal of a military force, according to plan, without pressure from the enemy.
9. withdrawal of securities from the market by a corporation, as through payment at maturity, repurchase, or exchange.

–adjective 10. noting or pertaining to retirement: retirement pay.


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Origin:
1590–1600;

 

[Lammie]

it was Steve's dream to retire at sixty. I never thought it would happen.

 

[1982vett]

it was Steve's dream to retire at sixty. I never thought it would happen.

Giving off bad vibes their Lammie. ;-) Self-fulfilling prohpecy.

 

[john250]

There is a school of thought that when you retire, you die.
Some folks make their "2nd career" their best. Colonel Sanders was in his 70's, I think, when he developed KFC. Others retire to the couch and die in 6 mos.

 

[Horseless]

I remember back in college in the mid 1980's, business professors talking how big of a deal it would be if the Dow Jones broke thru the 2000 point level. I also remember how hard it was to find a job back then out of college. We have come along ways from those days. The worse thing we could do is panic and thats exactly what Oboma is doing. Mistakes have been made and we haven't learned nothing from them. Until people learn from their failures, instead of being rewarded for them, we will mostly likely have a long row to hoe.

 

[Lammie]

it was Steve's dream to retire at sixty. I never thought it would happen.

Giving off bad vibes their Lammie. ;-) Self-fulfilling prohpecy.

Well, there's no reason to retire at sixty. Still plenty of life in a sixty year old. Heck, my dad was nearly that old when I graduated from high school. I never thought of him as old at sixty. And what the heck would he do besides muck things up around the house? When he worked from home he could hardly get anything done because of his buddies stopping by to chat. I told him to put them to work and they'd go away. Drunk old codgers coming by at noon to see what he was doing.

"Working!! Go away!"

 

[ChrisB]

I wouldn't pull any money out of a 401K plan now. Things will come back around we just don't know when. Now is the time to invest as much as you can since stock prices are down. When things do start to recover you will be in a very good position to make a lot of money.

If you need money to keep you house that is one thing, but pulley money out when things have hit rock bottom will hurt you in the future. We all talk about buying low and selling high to make money with cattle; the same can be said with the stock market. Now is the time to invest.

 

[1982vett]

Well, there's no reason to retire at sixty. Still plenty of life in a sixty year old. Heck, my dad was nearly that old when I graduated from high school. I never thought of him as old at sixty. And what the heck would he do besides muck things up around the house? When he worked from home he could hardly get anything done because of his buddies stopping by to chat. I told him to put them to work and they'd go away. Drunk old codgers coming by at noon to see what he was doing.

"Working!! Go away!"

I can agree with that. But I can tell you it is/or would be nice for most people to be able to change careers or look at the purpose of their job differently. Changing from a stressful demanding job that is needed to pay all the bills and wants to one that might pay less but be more enjoyable, less demanding or stressful could make life more enjoyable for many.

 

[Jogeephus]

Changing from a stressful demanding job that is needed to pay all the bills and wants to one that might pay less but be more enjoyable, less demanding or stressful could make life more enjoyable for many.

If I had enough money I doubt I would change what I do. I just wouldn't GAS when some nimrod pressed me wanting me to make wine out of sour grapes. I could tell him to bugger off or quote him a price so terribly high that he would make someone else miserable. I'd also like to be able to take 3 months off and just drive through the country and come knocking on some of ya'lls doors about lunch time. :nod:

 

[1982vett]

Changing from a stressful demanding job that is needed to pay all the bills and wants to one that might pay less but be more enjoyable, less demanding or stressful could make life more enjoyable for many.

If I had enough money I doubt I would change what I do. I just wouldn't GAS when some nimrod pressed me wanting me to make wine out of sour grapes. I could tell him to bugger off or quote him a price so terribly high that he would make someone else miserable. I'd also like to be able to take 3 months off and just drive through the country and come knocking on some of ya'lls doors about lunch time. :nod:

Come on, today its BBQ chicken sandwich and a salad.

 

[Jogeephus]

I'll do it! Ain't skeered. Just gotta fill up a few more Mason jars first. :nod: Oh, and then I'll have to tell a few people to bug off. :banana: