Members bbach Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 If you watch enough of the news you might get the feeling that there is going to be a run on the banks soon as everyone panics as tries to get their money. Seems like all the negative publicity is simply going to make things worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Will Chen Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 No. Our money has no real value, it's technically backed by debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bbach Posted September 26, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 No. Our money has no real value, it's technically backed by debt. Well the issue would be this: you need to buy groceries, your bank is shut down do to lack of funds or fed takeover. Your money is in there. What now? The possiblity exists that paper money could become worth nothing. That will be fun when we get hungry. Can't happen? I don't know. Is our financial system in that much trouble? Sounds like the 1930's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 I've always hated banks, and have as little to do with them as I can possibly get by with. The whole concept is weird to me: "Here, let us hang on to your money for you (and use it for ourselves, collecting interest on it) and charge you for the privilege. Better yet, we'll issue you a credit card and charge you 18% for loaning it back out to you." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitzilla Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 I saw a "talking head" on some news channel saying that he believes that house break-ins will likely rise because people are keeping more money at home. I have a small stash of money that I always keep at home anyway. It is enough to get me through a couple of weeks, but not enough that if there were a break-in or a house fire, I would be financially destroyed. My mother has always kept some money at home in a safe, I guess that her paranoia has rubbed off on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Will Chen Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 Well the issue would be this: you need to buy groceries, your bank is shut down do to lack of funds or fed takeover. Your money is in there. What now?The possiblity exists that paper money could become worth nothing. That will be fun when we get hungry.Can't happen? I don't know. Is our financial system in that much trouble?Sounds like the 1930's I never carry cash. My monthly expenses are all charged (on which I receive a cash back bonus) and I pay my monthly credit card balance in full via electronic transfer from my bank. If the bank goes under, I'm well under the $100,000 FDIC insured amount. No worries... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 Yeah, I've felt that impulse. I am not going to act on it though. I have a small CD with WAMU right now. My main bank is BOA and you here all kinds of dire stuff about their stability. But what are you going to do? I don't want to be an agent of a panic-driven collapse. As wbc suggests, I don't have enough to be ruined by anything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tremolounge Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 FWIW, there was a guy on NPR yesterday who tracks web searches. The #1 finance-related search right now is "gold". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 FWIW, there was a guy on NPR yesterday who tracks web searches. The #1 finance-related search right now is "gold". You can't go wrong with gold, silver, or platinum. John:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Richard King Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 Gold, not matter what the gold gurus on various advertisements say, is not always the right thing to do, and historically has been a very wrong thing to do. If you had bought gold in 1980 you would just be breaking even today. I put some money in a precious metals fund in the '80's and really miss the profits that could have been made if I had put it in the stock market instead.http://breakouttrading.blogspot.com/2006/05/gold-very-long-term-chart.htmlhttp://ptv-investing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dow-1982-2000.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chipmcdonald Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 I'm well under the $100,000 FDIC insured amount. No worries... Yeah, because nothing could happen to the FDIC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chipmcdonald Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 If you had bought gold in 1980 you would just be breaking even today. I put some money in a precious metals fund in the '80's We mean literally, gold. Not a piece of paper that says (in theory) you have some. My problem is I don't know how one buys gold. There's a gazillion pawn-shop kind of places that advertise "GOLD", but how do you know what you're getting? The FDIC won't mean anything if the whole thing goes under. What is "every account insured in the U.S. x $100,000"? I think the answer is "a whole lot more than a completely broke government has". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Music Calgary Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 I've always hated banks, and have as little to do with them as I can possibly get by with. The whole concept is weird to me: "Here, let us hang on to your money for you (and use it for ourselves, collecting interest on it) and charge you for the privilege. Better yet, we'll issue you a credit card and charge you 18% for loaning it back out to you." +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 Hey everybody! Guess what? WaMu just failed: Washington Mutual biggest bank failure in US history Time to buy a safe and stash what's left of your money at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 I have a small CD with WAMU right now. Um... had. You probably have one with JP Morgan Chase today. I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 26, 2008 Moderators Share Posted September 26, 2008 My mortgage is with WaMu. I don't have to pay now, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 Gold, not matter what the gold gurus on various advertisements say, is not always the right thing to do, and historically has been a very wrong thing to do. If you had bought gold in 1980 you would just be breaking even today. I put some money in a precious metals fund in the '80's and really miss the profits that could have been made if I had put it in the stock market instead.http://breakouttrading.blogspot.com/2006/05/gold-very-long-term-chart.htmlhttp://ptv-investing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dow-1982-2000.gif Exactly; gold is always going to have value, unlike paper money. John:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jimbroni Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 If enough people panic, and pull money out of the banks and markets, then yes there will be a problem. However, if enough people view this as a buying opportunity for stocks and dollars, then no it won't be problem. My entire life all I ever hear is how the walls are about to cave in, they haven't caved yet. So I'm not holding my breath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 My mortgage is with WaMu. I don't have to pay now, right? :lol: (just in case anyone thinks your serious) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 My mortgage is with WaMu. I don't have to pay now, right? That's right. The government is going to pay the rest of your loan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 We mean literally, gold. Not a piece of paper that says (in theory) you have some. My problem is I don't know how one buys gold. There's a gazillion pawn-shop kind of places that advertise "GOLD", but how do you know what you're getting? The FDIC won't mean anything if the whole thing goes under. What is "every account insured in the U.S. x $100,000"? I think the answer is "a whole lot more than a completely broke government has". There are multiple places you can buy gold. Stick to either gold coins issued by governments like US gold coins... or if you prefer, ones by Canada, China, Australia... even South Africa. These are quite liquid and are typically available in 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, or 1 oz sizes. Or you could buy non-coin .999 fine gold bars by Johnson Mathey or similar vendors. Again, these are easily traded. The only concern I have for people who put all their money in gold now is that we're already near all time highs in price... more room to the downside than the upside... maybe 10% of your money would be appropriate... Re: the FDIC. The Fed can always cover ANY debt by simply issuing more money. This is hugely inflationary, so each dollar may not be worth as much, but there is zero chance that if you are below the FDIC limits in a FDIC insured financial institution, you will lose actual dollars. I would bet that people will begin hoarding bullets... The currency of the future! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dahkter Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 FWIW, there was a guy on NPR yesterday who tracks web searches. The #1 finance-related search right now is "gold". I find this really interesting. In order to keep a good balance, I like my news from both extremes - fair right, far left (and moderate as well). On the far far left side (what some may call conspiracy theory), you have Alex Jones and his infowars.com website. He's been talking about the sinking economy for years, the new North American currency (forget the name of it) and that gold is the right way to invest your money. I find it interesting that some of these predictions are panning out right before our eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 Re: the FDIC. The Fed can always cover ANY debt by simply issuing more money. This is hugely inflationary, so each dollar may not be worth as much, but there is zero chance that if you are below the FDIC limits in a FDIC insured financial institution, you will lose actual dollars. What if the FDIC fails like Social Security is? Even if the FDIC doesn't, if there are millions of claims processing, you might not see your money for many months. This is a government institution and we all know how screwed up government institutions are (think FEMA in New Orleans). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tremolounge Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 This was the guy on NPR yesterday: Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted September 26, 2008 Members Share Posted September 26, 2008 FYI... there have been gold zealots for decades... If you always say the price is going to go up... Sooner or later, you may be right. I'm not saying gold isn't a good investment... I'm just pointing out that the people saying "gold is going to go through the roof" have been around for a long time. But hey, even a broken clock is right two times a day! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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