Bad News. My position was eliminated last week. Say prayers for me that I get a new job. The good news is that I have severance & can collect unemployment and have good friends that are boosting my spirit. One thing, just being home all day, I realize more how much worse DH short term memory is getting. However, he is very supportive. I am hoping that the silver lining in this is I will find a job that will be more flexible.
Well , the good news is it looks like those on unemployment will be getting an increase and an extension on the benefits. I left my job a year ago to spend more time with my wife who has AD. I figure that this is as good as it will get, I might as well take advantage of it while I can. I am able to tap my IRA and I will go back to work probably later this year. Hopefully the economy will pickup and I will be able to find a job. So is your husband just in the early stage.
Lizbeth, Hopefully, you will find a new better position. We also had a setback this weekend. Received a letter that after March 31st, the company from which my husband retired will no longer provide insurance. If we want insurance we will need to pay the full amount on premiums...just another hit due to the economy. I just hope they continue the retirement checks, even though most of it will go to insurance now. I am trying to see the bright side...we had insurance for over 36 years, when some people have never had any.
Oh dear friends. I just have to hope and pray that things work out for all of us, in the best ways that they possibly can. I have no idea what that means even as I say it. Platitudes don't work all that well but it feels better to think of what IS possible when the list of 'impossibles' begins to overwhelm.
Thanks all for the kind words. It is helpful to be on this site with people who know what it is like. I am happy that I am able to spend more time with DH while he is still good.
Moorsb, DH can hold a pretty good conversation except he is forgetful. His forgetfulness is mostly just short-term. Also it is unpredictable how he will feel day to day. Sometimes his energy is down the entire day. Others it comes and goes. DH can do all the daily tasks of living, stay by himself. He does dishes, works in the garden, makes stepping stones etc. He can't cook very well anymore. He can't read books but can still read the newspaper. He enjoys socializing and has a good friend who is now retired who gets together with him at least a couple times a week. He takes DH to an art class with him. DH never did painting but is enjoying it.
Also we are lucky that DH has no measurable damage to his frontal temporal lobe (know this from a PET scan research study he is in) , so thus far, he does not have the disruptive behavior symptoms that some on this site have.
Losing a job must be so scary in these times. My job is secure but I'm worried about wanting to sell a house. But I have learned some about investing in this economy that might be useful to others in a similar situation.
In these bad times: --try to avoid selling stocks or mutual funds--if you can afford to wait three to five years they will almost surely come back up --if you have a mostly paid off house and enough secure income, a home equity line of credit may be a better source of money right now. The interest rate on mine is currently under 4%, though that is likely to go up. --if you can take some risks and need income, stocks are so low that some of them pay extraordinary dividends. I was told a few week ago that GE was paying a dividend of 7%--an awful lot more than a bank CD. An income-oriented mutual fund could give some of the same benefits with less risk.
pam, I think that is good advice. I also have 3 houses and a commercial building all on the same property that I have been trying to sell for 3 years. Finally decided to rent the houses and I have 1 of them rented. That will more than take care of the utilities, taxes and Insurance costs. Thankfully I have no mortgage.
I have been thinking about buying a few single stocks as speculation. I am so worried about my kids and their jobs. One of them is a teacher so she should be ok and son is a engineer and he thinks his job is secure. The other has her own marketing business and that business is not good in these times.
I had a cd come due and couldn't bear to reinvest it at such low interest rates. I thought about single stocks, but I worry about any given company going bust (who would have thought when we were younger that Ford motor company wouldn't last forever). On the other hand, if a stock is paying 7% it doesn't seem like it will go much lower if the company stays sound, because there will be people out there who want the 7%. I decided to spread out my risk and buy an income oriented mutual fund.
I'm no expert, I'm just sharing my thinking about how to approach this economy. It depends so much on how much you have and income needs. Our income is good for 2 to 3 years but will go down when our daughter turns 18 and my husband turns 65.
I would be somewhat wary of a stock that pays a hefty dividend. The market may be far from perfect, but it does price risk into the dividend rate. GE's dividend rate at the close today was over 11%. The stock was up $1.54 today on news that the board is considering a CUT in the dividend. This will hurt the dividend rate but preserve cash for the company.
Treasury bonds are as safe as our government, if the government goes then we are all in trouble. I myself would tell anyone who does not have a 18 year time horizon to stay out of the stock market, it is better to conserve your principal and earn less, and change your lifestyle. We are emerging into an different kind of world, the days of hold and it will go up in two are three years are over. We have not even started to see the downturn in this crisis.
At my age cash is king. If you are already in a money market account or CD's I would stay there. Granted the returns are low right now but you won't lose any money. Be aware of the $100K account limits and observe that rule religiously. I woudn't give any advice on stocks or mutual funds.
If we see the return of a Jimmy Carter style economy you will be able to do quite well with cash.
I think Jane is right about the stock market. My DH has some stock in the company he worked for which was worth $45,000 just 3 years ago. It is now worth $8,000. On the other hand, the money we have in CD's and Money Market is all still there plus at least a little interest.
We also invested in some real estate. Wouldn't want to try to sell that right now but we do have rent income on a couple of those. Now might be a good time to invest in real estate if you're not going to need the money right away or if you could receive rent income from it.
As soon as they became available my wife and I signed up for tax deferred savings with the hope that it would supplememnt our retirement. Fortunately, we haven't touched either one, but the quarterly statements are frightening. Like Dazed's experience, they are down $3,000 one quarter and then $6,000 the next. Hopefully those extra zeros don't mean anything.
The economy, energy prices and her dementia all just serve to reinforce how powerless I am over my life. If all these things haven't taught me humility, nothing will.
Some economist (can't remember his name right now) said the following ten companies will lead us out of this recession. I'm going to write down their prices today and see how will they do. Haven't any money to invest but it will be interesting to see if he's on the mark.
Starbucks, Target, CBS, American Airlines, Dell, Yahoo, E-Trade, Staples and Electronic Arts.
I don't think Starbucks will survive. I don't think Yahoo will survive without a merger. Is E-trade still around? I'm very surprised that Walmart's not in there.
Okay, I looked at the url for 247wallstreet. They say: Over the last year, shares of Colgate, Wal-Mart, and McDonald’s have significantly outperformed the DJIA. So we were right on the mark with that.
THe ten companies aren't the ones that will survive, no matter what, they're the ones to watch for signs of recovery: they've all gone down a lot, so if they start coming back up, then's the time to start buying stock again. That's more reasonable.
As some of you know, my husband lost our substantial retirement money playing the stock market. I wouldn't buy a share of anything right now. My son, who makes "mega bucks", has taken all of his money out of the stock market. He is a computer systems engineer, but thinks one day he would like to be a financial advisor. Point is, he didn't lose all the money most people did, he had the foresight to get out when the getting was good. If he stays out, I stay out.
To Sunshine, As for the FDIC insured limits being $250,00 now, just remember that ends and goes back to a $100,000 insured limit at the end of 2009 (this year) unless it is extended. Some people think they made it $250,000 insured indefinite. Not so.
Kitty, I'm with your son. I got out early too - so didn't lose anything. Not earning much interest right now, but at least I kept my principal and it is earning something!
Jane, I would love you to come back & make suggestions for a Medicare Dummy like me. I have read some of your older comments & you are so knowledgeable. I need someone to explain it to me like a 4 year old. Don't get me wrong I certainly appreciate all the help others have given me. I just need to calm down & absorb it all.
Well, I sold my IRA a month ago and had it reinvested into an annuity. Today, I did the same thing with our joing account. I'm just hoping there will be enough to pay our way until we pass away. I also had these annuities put into an income stream and the $$ is Medicaid protected. Don't ask me any more. That's all I know.
I just know I had to get out of the market--we've lost a lot of $$ and had to stop the bleeding.
Mawzy, I feel like we've already bled to death in the stock market. Might as well let the corpse continue to lie there. :-) I'm just so glad we only had a small part of our retirement in stock.