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September 18, 2007 at 9:55 PM in reply to: How to protect against massive inflation and upcoming fall of dollar #85134September 18, 2007 at 9:52 PM in reply to: How to protect against massive inflation and upcoming fall of dollar #85131
bsrsharma
ParticipantFor the average investor, instead of getting all excited and getting into risky Gold or foreign currency investments, you can do very well easily by just going to your 401(k) and allocating all your assets to a mix of diversified Global/International funds. If you max out your 401(k) and they are all invested in Global funds, you have enough protection against moderate inflation/devaluation. Any devaluation of $ will be fairly gradual. My guess is $ may lose 50%-60% (in real purchasing power parity over a basket of major currencies) over the next 10-12 Year period. This will be slow enough for most people not to notice. Only by 2020, will average folks start noticing that we are living less well, than, say 2000. (Only now, some smart piggingtonian like people are realizing that we are less well of in standard of living compared to 1960s)
ParticipantFLU,
Why do you use the ATM so much? (just curious!). I rarely make more than a couple of trips per month. Even @ $3 (which I do feel is a bit much), isn’t it less than a c-o-c @ Starbucks?
ParticipantSince nobody mentioned anything bad about the cut…
The Canadian $ is close to touching US 99 cents today (after the cut). I guess this may be the week when it crosses over. I think that will be an interesting moment. I remember when the Candian $ went down sharply, a lot of businesses in Washington State stopped accepting Canadian $ (at par, as they were doing before). We may see a reverse this time (in Canada) – US $ no longer accepted here!
ParticipantWow! Dallas 75227 & 75241 are both hellholes. I have never set foot in (not even flown over – honest!) Texas. I thought the original poster (a Texan, most likely) of the quote was giving useful price information. It never occured to me that those places may be slums.
Participantcredit union?
Why does anyone need a bank? I haven't used a bank for over 14 years. Only recently I opened a few online accounts to spread around my deposits for better FDIC coverage. I am completely satisfied with SDCCU. Before that, I was always unhappy with Wells Fargo. Imagine being charged for checking your balance on touch tone teller!
ParticipantOne other factor you may want to consider to improve your overall Quality of Life is Traffic Congestion. See http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/congestion_data/
ParticipantTHE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR
Reminds me of our "plumber" for many years. We had a very old gentleman help us with plumbing repairs. He sounded very intellectual for a plumber. Later we found out he was actually a millionaire who did plumbing for hobby. He and his wife lived in a mobile home park since that was sufficient for them, though all their grown children were professionals. He never really cared for money. He wouldn't give us a bill unless we insisted!
ParticipantIt is not like San Diego; but buying a nice house with a year’s salary and living debt free seems very interesting concept. 24 million people live there. Can’t be that bad!
ParticipantGood prices in TX for anyone considering leaving.
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Comment by Bye FL
2007-09-17 15:30:49
I am getting sick and tired of people whining about Texas being unaffordable. 90% of Texas is cheap! Please avoid that 10% with wishing prices, let those FB’s and speculators rot! I am going to show you a few houses below that anyone can afford. If they are not “good” enough for you, you have no business being in Texas, go relocate to NW Pennsylvania, prices are even *cheaper* there. Rent is generally *not* a good deal in Texas because there’s plenty of houses that cost *less* than rent. 90% of Texas did *not* see much of a bubble!Nice big house in perfect condition in good, established neighborhood in Dallas for $85k.
Large 3 bedroom house in established neighboorhood for $130k.
$129,900
5 Bed, 3 Bath
2,680 Sq. Ft.
Huge house at under $50/foot!Very nice house for $158k(you can get one like that for a few thousand cheaper, actually)
I hope this clears up any misconception about Texas being unaffordable. Texas is *not* like California or south Florida where almost nothing is affordable! People are running away from those locating and running to Texas where they can get a very nice house to live in at sane prices. I am tempted to relocate to Texas but big city life isn’t for me and NW Pennsylvania costs half as much. Texas would be a great bet for my parents, wish they had sold in south FL, they will lose their equity and south FL will become cheap enough that they might not want to bother selling if they don’t sell soon. Prices here will fall big time.
————————————————————ParticipantWhere is the next bubble going to be?
It seems to be in Agriculture – land, commodities, corn etc., When I saw CNBC mentioning seed – as in seed corn, I knew where the next game will be. The Ethanol program has inflated the price of corn and is inviting a lot of speculators (who made their killing in residential real estate) into agriculture. Corn has far more federal subsidies than housing, so it also provides a fine opportunity for some governmental corruption.
ParticipantA month ago, Juan Ramirez bought a Diamond Ridge home for $388,000 after the builder offered him a free washer and dryer and $30,000 in incentives, which he used to upgrade the carpeting and tile in the five-bedroom home. Although the juice-bar owner was worried that the home's value would decrease, it was too good of a deal to pass up, he said.
"You've got to take a chance to see what happens," Ramirez, 40, said.
Isn't 388K a lot for a juice-bar owner to afford in Victorville? It is very hot there, but he must have one heck of a traffic and hefty margins. Chance – he is surely taking.
September 14, 2007 at 7:33 AM in reply to: The Funeral – “It’s all over,” he said, and drove away. #84526ParticipantAnother Run on a major Bank!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=asdTfUAtiNWI&refer=home
Northern Rock Customers Crowd Branches, Withdraw Cash (Update2)
By Sabine Pirone and Shelley Smith
Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) — Hundreds of Northern Rock Plc customers crowded into branches in London today to pull out their savings after the mortgage-loan provider sought emergency funding from the Bank of England.
“It’s scary,” said Peter Pye, 60, a retired university lecturer standing in a line of about 30 people outside the Moorgate branch in the financial district. “I have my life’s savings in Northern Rock.” He said he would withdraw a “six- figure” sum and leave 5,000 pounds in the account.
The Bank of England said it will provide emergency cash to Northern Rock, Britain’s third-largest mortgage provider, in the nation’s biggest bailout of a financial institution in 30 years. The rising cost of credit left the lender unable to make new loans and stoked concern among customers about their money.
Northern Rock, which has 1.4 million retail depositors and 800,000 mortgage customers, hasn’t imposed any special limits on withdrawals, spokesman Don Hunter said. The Newcastle, England-based company, which traces its roots back to 1850, had to restart its Internet banking site “over a period of time” today after unusually high usage froze the service, he said.
“It is understandable that customers are concerned,” Hunter said. “Their mortgages and savings are safe.”
Northern Rock has 76 bank branches, according to Hunter. By 11 a.m., dozens of people formed queues on the sidewalk outside the Moorgate office, the Maddox Street branch in the West End shopping district, and the Kingston Upon Thames outlet in southwest London.
`No Risk’
“There is no risk,” said James Hamilton, an analyst at Numis Securities in London. “The Bank of England said Northern Rock is solvent.” Hamilton said that “as credit turmoil will return to normal, Northern Rock’s business will as well.”
“Why leave your money in a bank that obviously has some major problems?” said Michael Ribotham, 74. “I’m not young and don’t have a chance to make it back again.” Ribotham had been waiting at Moorgate for about 40 minutes.
Northern Rock was formed from a merger between two building societies and the initial public offering of Northern Rock Building Society in October 1997. The stock plunged as much as 29 percent today. The lender said profit will trail analysts’ forecasts, blaming a “severe liquidity squeeze” and rising short-term interest rates.
“I am going to take out the lot, every penny,” said William Gough, 75, queuing with about 30 people outside the Maddox Street branch. Gough, from Belfast, in Northern Ireland, was “horrified” to hear about Northern Rock’s request for emergency funding.
`On The Safe Side’
Hunter, the bank’s spokesman, was unable to say how many customers were demanding to reduce or empty their accounts.
“I’m worried,” said Jenny Western, 33, a photographer from London. “I am taking all my money out. Maybe everyone is overreacting but I want to be on the safe side.”
The bailout will “help Northern Rock to fund its operations during the current period of turbulence in financial markets,” the Bank of England, U.K. Treasury and Financial Services Authority said in a joint statement.
“I don’t think anything is going to happen because the Bank of England won’t allow it to happen,” said Paul Delamere, 46, waiting at Maddox Street to withdraw his money. Still, he was “more comfortable” with reducing his account.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sabine Pirone in London at [email protected] . Shelley Smith in London at [email protected]
Last Updated: September 14, 2007 09:49 EDTParticipantSince it is common knowledge that many nice new homes in Riverside county are selling around $100/sqft, how could the lender be stupid enough to refuse a bid twice that much? And which idiot would offer a bid at twice new home price?
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