It seems the current financial crisis is hitting all of us. We dread the arrival of out monthly statements from our Roth IRAs and annuity funds, from which we have lost thousands of dollars. For a working family, that money will be hard to replace.
But Cliff and I are not panicking. We are simply going to adjust our retirement goals. As of now, we figure we will be able to retire somewhere around, say, age 87.
Of course, we will still have to take on part-time jobs to pay off the loans we took out to get the kids through college since their mutual funds containing our education savings have also tanked. Given the state of the job market, we are not too concerned about having to learn new skills at that age. We figure the most we will have to remember is to ask "Do you want fries with that?" with every order.
I was listening to the radio last week when a women called to complain about her annuity fund holder, AIG. It seems she wanted to take out a loan on her money and AIG turned her down. All this was happening when the government was bailing out AIG's backside from financial ruin and the company sent employees on an expensive spa weekend at a resort to "brainstorm." Personally, I always brainstorm while getting manicures, pedicures and massages.
I can understand perfectly why AIG denied her loan. If they were to grant her access to her money, someone at AIG would have to go without a pedicure. Seriously, how selfish of this woman to want to use her own money to benefit her family when there are AIG employees running around with stiff necks and unpainted toenails. What is this world coming to?
With stocks plunging and financial institutions failing, I can understand now why so many people who lived through the Great Depression have such a deep mistrust of banks. The state of our economy makes a perfectly sane person want to take their hard-earned money and simply stuff it in a mattress. Of course, when your house is on fire and you are trying to force a king-size mattress through a window, you may want to rethink that strategy.
I for one will not be stuffing my mattress. Personally, I think a much safer option is to dig a hole in the backyard, put all of my savings into a mason jar, plop it into the ground and cover it up.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have a hole to dig.
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2 comments:
Hi Kris,
This blog is really great. But just to let you know I have a friend at the St Regis Monarch beach where the AIG conference was held. If AIG had cancelled they would have paid the money anyway in cancellation fees. Something the media doesn't tell you. The attendees were mostly contractors of the company (it was an incentive trip) so this was per contract for the people they subcontracted with.
Unfortunately for the Hotel and my friend, she had 7 cancellations the following week, because companies are too worried about "bad press". The Hotel lost money and my friend lost money.
One problem I have with the media is that they only tell you what sells ads and print. They do not always tell the entire story. Remember when they used to report only the facts?
Keep on writing, I enjoy your opinion. Amanda
I understand that mattress factories are coming out with a new mattress that has a hidden pocket to hide your money.
JGA
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