Comments for Finance my Money

Comment on 401k Investing: Is the 401k a Relic of Past Investing Models? S&P 500 versus Certificate of Deposits. by Bonnie

Bonnie — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:44:37 +0000

My mom lost 42% of her 401k value and she was let go of her job. She had been an RN for over 30+ years. The hospital has a “policy” of getting rid of the older for the younger…anyways after she lost that much she took out the rest and paid off her bills, car and the lawyer. She says she kicks herself all the time because her financial advisor kept telling her to put more into her retirement fund. She put up to 30% of her pay every year. Now she wishes otherwise. I think I will use this and tread lightly besides who knows how high the tax will be when I need to withdraw it at age 65.

Comment on A Case Study of Distress California Housing: Sacramento County. by repo4sale

repo4sale — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:32:37 +0000

Good article. I think after 35 years in Real Estate investments with a 1165% gross Average Return over the last 198 escrows, the market has not hit bottom. 2-3 years more to the bottom, then it’s “treading water” for 3-5 years more before we start moving up. The Feds pushed the “bottom of the bell curve” back with all these “incentives”. Calif. has a typical cycle of 8-10 years up and 8-10 years down and anytime the Feds “influenced” this cycle, it’s to the detriment of the consumer & investor. The last up cycle, 1997 to 2007 was very long, with 911 and cheap Greenspan% rates. The down cycle with Tarp & Obama money will be from 2007 to 2017 at the MINIMUM! So the Up cycle will start about 2014-2017. Sad but true. That’s when the bottom is expected based on California Real Estate cycles since the 1950s.

Comment on A Case Study of Distress California Housing: Sacramento County. by James Smith

James Smith — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:42:57 +0000

I think before any meaningful recovery in real estate prices can take root, we need to overcome three major obstacles…
“Rebound Obstacle #1: Inventory Glut. Nearly 10% of all homes built this decade are sitting vacant, compared to a historical average of 2.2%. In total, we’re sitting on almost 10 months worth of inventory versus a historical average of four months.

Rebound Obstacle #2: Loan Resets. Forget subprime. We’ve already worked through 80% of those resets and written down $1.47 trillion in the process. Now we’re facing a $2.5 trillion mountain of Alt-A loan resets. The first big wave hits mid-2011, with the peak expected to come in early 2013.
Rebound Obstacle #3: Foreclosures. One in four homeowners are now underwater. If we break it out by loan type the picture gets worse – 25% of prime loans, 45% of Alt-A loans, 50% of subprime loans are severely underwater. Add in the 6.5 million Americans out of work since the recession began and it doesn’t take an Einstein to predict where foreclosures are heading.”

http://www.housingnewslive.com/articles/reasons-housing-market-going-down.php