September 29, 2008 Market Crash

[jfko6]

I'm preparing this post September 29, 2008.
Time: 3:18PM EST

Today the market crashed. We're seeing numbers unlike anything as of recent. Should the market fall 10% within the hour the circuit breakers will kick in and all trading will stop.

Get Ready and Be Prepared.

With the last half hour the markets plunged another 100 points.

[kman]

I'm not saying things aren't bad, but with only a 5% drop, this is kind of like saying the sky is falling. The 1987 crash was a 23% drop:

http://www.stock-market-crash.net/1987.htm

So it's not quite time to head for the hills. Panic about the issue is only going to cause more people to freak out and start dumping even more of their stocks.

The screaming headlines in the news are just there to drive sales of the newspapers.

[jfko6]

As of the close of business today the markets ended it biggest single day point drop in history. This is unfortunate as it will impact many peoples jobs and that could be as soon as tomorrow.

Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared.
Recommended items
http://www.mreinfo.com/us/current/curre ... tions.html

[kman]

As of the close of business today the markets ended it biggest single day point drop in history.

It may have been the biggest single day point drop but it wasn't the biggest PERCENTAGE point drop, and I think that's what more important.

Check out the numbers:

1987 Crash:
508 points down or 22.6% of the total market

Today's crash:
777 points down or 6.98% of the total market

In 1987, the market lost almost a 1/4 of its value. Today's market is only down 7%. Not good, true, but screaming headlines of BIGGEST, WORST, LARGEST EVER only serve to drive more panic.

[kman]

P.S. jfko6 - nice graphics. I'm glad they included that first one but I think they should have put percentage loss above net loss. But then the headlines wouldn't be as catchy.

Wall Street wants the bail-out so they can get some free money.
Politicians want the bail-out so they can say "they care" and get re-elected.
US citizens don't want the bail-out because the money for it is coming out of our pockets.

[bishopmarine]

nicely put kman. lets not reward incompatency. some say it will be too expensive if we dont act. where is the lesson learned if we bail out companies that start to fail. it would be the beginning of a bad series of moves. or actually the continuation of bad moves as bail outs have been occuring for the past few months just on a smaller scale. free enterprise means business operation without government regulation. when our government starts stepping in and bailing out companies we become less democratic and more social.

[DangerousDave]

What should I do? I mean, 777, that must be a lucky number, but I'm doubtful. 666 would have been worse. I just increased my 401K deduction to 5% last week. I'm basically slam out of MRE's. Oh Lord, I'm F***ed. Well, I do have several(never-mind). I can't give out any info about my swords and such.

[dirtbag]

I just increased my 401K deduction to 5% last week.

I'm putting in 21 %, and the company kicks in 4 %...
Of course, I'm planning to retire in the next 6-10 years... Maybe

[bl00k]

This crisis doesn't look that good. It spread to Europe now. Last week a large bank, Fortis, was nationalized by the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, in which countries it operates. They paid a combined 11,3 billion € for 49% of the shares.

[kman]

I just increased my 401K deduction to 5% last week.

I'm putting in 21 %, and the company kicks in 4 %... :wink:
Of course, I'm planning to retire in the next 6-10 years... Maybe :cry:

I hope you're heavily weighted into money markets and/or bonds...my own 401k was down 16-20% so far this year (before yesterday's crash - I'm sure it's more now). But I've got a little more time than 6-10 years before retirement so I'm hoping there's time for recovery.