Madness and Mayhem and Bailouts, Oh My!

This week has been a real ride financially. I thought it might be fun to take a “wide angle” look at how the personal finance community is reacting to the current market turmoil.

As for myself (and I’m no economist believe me!) I cut an unfortunate loss (*cough* Lehman *cough*) but didn’t take much of a hit. Mostly I am enjoying the discounts, ing what I can afford, and wishing I had even more money to invest. I “called” the market bottom in August, and I was incorrect. It’s taken a little longer, and it’s a bit rougher than I figured it’d be. All in all I expect that it will eventually come out in the wash. There will be spectacular losses, spectacular gains, and we will go on. So, there’s my uneducated two cents, for what it’s worth.

Now, let’s take a look at how everyone else is doing!

No Big Deal?

• Mrs Micah’s advice? Diversify properly and leave your stocks alone. Selling at the bottom of a drop makes no sense.
• Gen X Finance has a really good article on Changing Your Risk Tolerance Based on a Bear Market. It’s accurate commentary I believe. We’re all al little braver when the market is doing well! His advice? Stick to your guns. Understand asset allocation, and take on the same amount of risk in an up market as you do in a down market. Whatever your risk tolerance is, be consistent.
• Cheers to Trent at The Simple Dollar who just maxed out his IRA contribution for the year, and I quote, “First of all, the down market doesn’t concern me all that much.” He’s getting the same stock he’s been ing all along at a 25% discount. Nice to hear a positive approach.
• Ben at Money Smart Life isn’t too worried either. He;s taking a new approach by watching the “most searched” terms on Google. So far Entertainment, the Election and Football are beating out AIG, Lehman, and Merril Lynch.
• Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity is day-trading shares of AIG. Hehe. 🙂 I have to admit I did the same with Freddie Mac just before the bailout. I made a bit of money too, but Jim is right when he says that day trading is both dangerous and addictive. It’s one thing to do it for fun, another to do it with your life savings. Find a balance, and that’s the best road.
• The Digerati Life is worried about all the Chicken Littles, and the negative press. She’s taking the high road and giving out great advice in her article: Best Places For Your Money When The Stock Market Tanks Kudos for her for actually having the guts to suggest safer investment alternatives instead of just running scared and adding to the negative media.

I’m Undecided:

• The Happy Rock isn’t losing any sleep over the issue, and he is cautiously optimistic. He does say though, that the situation warrants further discussion and leaves it up to his readers to weigh in with how they feel.
• Money Ning Has a really cute post with a “Get Well Soon” card for our finances. He’s honest enough to say that he’s as scared as the rest of us, but he has no doubts at all the we will get through this downturn just like all the other ones.
• Free Money Finances wonders if you can handle a troubled economy and gives a simple little test to see whether or not you might need to adjust your financial picture.
• Free Money Finance has a must read article on the giant bailout our government is gearing up to implement. I shudder at the thought of this, I really do. I wish they’d leave well enough alone. Apparently though, they believe that a mega-billion dollar bailout will somehow cost taxpayers less than letting things crash and burn. We shall see I suppose…
• Get Rich Slowly got the “economical dirt” straight form an educated source: Economist Stephen Popick. Popick rightfully pointed out that the current situation started years ago, through bad lending practices. He also spends a second or so talking about the slicing and dicing of loans that’s led to companies and people not really even knowing which part of what debt they even own. Definitely worth a read.

Editor’s Choice:

My favorite article of the week is a two way tie!