Put your money in an off shore account! or a Swiss bank account. The Chinese are coming!! Gung hay fat choi!!!!

Foreign markets taking a major beating today. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

The report I just read is showing the S&P futures DOWN 5%+ to open in the am...looks like it will be a wild week I better get in the office early tomorrow...cheers.

Crazy start already, emergency Fed cut of .75%. THAT will drop mtg rates today, last I saw Dow opened down 400+pts...

Just don't freak out and react to the media. It is a good time to look for stocks on sale.

absolutely...think buyers are jumping in now as the Dow and Europe are not doing that bad compared to the opening but I will leave the non mortgage stuff to those in the know as thats not me. Interest Rates dropped an 1/8 to 1/4% across the board so far this am...cheers

The Fed's hitting the panic button!

wild ride lately, poor month actually last two over all on the year was stellar. Remember the fundamentals Buy low sell high.... I am starting to look at what bargains are out there

Andy,

Hopefully the mortgage market is the bright side to my not-so-rosy retirement fortune. I'm hoping to break ground in the next 3 months on a new house, so maybe I can get my interest rate locked in here in a few weeks or so.

Sg

Just a real-time update and as Dogfish said on another thread, "im not trolling for loans"...just giving info...Rates continue to PLUMMET is the best word I can use...by the end of the day today we could break through the 40 yr lows we set in 2003...stocks are getting pounded again but if you have been thinking about buying a house the combo of lots of inventory and record low rates should get housing moving again asap...cheers

With talk of another rate drop in the near future would it be best to wait until then?

REAL TIME UPDATE: Mortgage rates JUMPED WAY UP late today. A HUGE volatile swing right at the end of the session. Rates are running exact opposite of the stock market. We had THREE rate jumps in less than an hour from many lenders....chaos is alive and well in the markets right now. cheers

Mutual funds?

Checked the rates at WA Mutual this afternoon.

4.75% - 15 year fixed

5.25% - 30 year fixed

so let me ask you this...if i got over 40k in my 401k...where the heck do i invest it in?...im afraid to loose money, would that put me in moderate or something?...i have been afraid to put it anywhere, when i started my 401k everyone was loosing big money...i know im stupid for not changing it, but it has been getting some interest...now my company starting this month is matching 3.5% of my pay instead of 500 bucks a year...im going to bump it up from 7% of my pay to at least 12% we will see if i can afford 15%...but with the chance of loosing money, it scares me...is this normal...i dont know jack about 401's...c

LTF,

If you invest it in stocks or mutual funds (usually a mix of stocks) you will gain some years and lose some years. It's kinda' scary in its uncertainty, but over the long haul to retirement, a good mutual fund will average 8% or better. I don't have access to more risky investments, being tied to the S&P 500, but S&P does pretty well over the long haul. The years 2001 - 2005 were pretty painful for everybody except those who were holding their 5% gov't bonds.

A cautious approach might be to invest half your contribution in bonds and half in a stock mutual fund. A balanced portfolio is usually recommended for people investing in retirement accounts. I started saving after I was 40, so I put as much as I could in "growth" funds, which are higher risk. They swing up and down more, but overall they do pretty well.

Since I'm not a financial advisor, your best bet is to spend a few bucks and hire a pro who just charges an hourly fee, not one who manages your fund and takes a commission.

Sg

KK is pretty spot on.

If you can sleep at night, you made the right decision on your investments.

Wait a few months to pull the trigger on a mortgage. April will be very interesting, August and September as well. What the FED does next week may have an impact. From what I've read (Fun banking industry literature) the FED will cut rates by another 1-1.5% over the next 8-10 months. These rate drops will not be one-for-one on mortgage rates, but it will have some effect.

Don't try to hit the bottom, 'cause you won't. Just try to get a good drop.

One other thing, reflect on if your mortgage payment has changed, your personal income has been impacted, or your employment outlook has changed before you react to anything the media is telling you. They have a tendancy to sensationalize things.

thanks Salmo KK and Dogfish...ive been trying to figure it out, and i do have Vanguard, im going to give em a call and try to figure some of this out...thanks guys!!! oh yeah sorry it took sooo long to get back here, ive been going crazy with name changes...thanks...c

I think what gets lost in all of this discussion about retirement funds is the real killer in retirement and that is inflation. A well managed and diversified 401K plan is your best protection against inflation, despite what has happened with the economy of late (IMHO).

I think Aunty M's approach to living is the best piece of advice. Hell, the country wouldn't even be in this mess if people learned to live and enjoy life within their means. My wife and I will retire in about a year. We live simply now and will live even a simpler life in retirement, but a great life none the less.