Many of you don't go over to N&D so I'm posting this here.

I know you have all seen the stock markets over the last 2 months collapse. Many of you are thinking this will have no effect on you because 1) you own no stocks and 2) you are young and invincible.

I am here to tell you that while I do not think we are heading into a great depression, things will be VERY bad and might remain so for a few years. It's impossible to predict what will happen as a result of the financial turmoil (much of this mess was all the result of rampant speculation/borrowing) but I can guarantee you that it will not be pretty. It WILL effect you. You will have a harder time getting ANY kind of loan, whether it be for school, a car, a credit card, or a home. If you are in school, it will be harder for you to find a job when you graduate.

So what can you do? Very little - except these two things:

1) If you have a job, think twice about quiting and try not to lose it without a replacement.
2) Do not spend money on things that are not essential. Think twice about buying vs. saving. The developed world has lived in unbelievable prosperity for so long we don't know (myself included) what it's like to experience a really bad, multi year downturn. Be prudent with your expenditures.

Not trying to scare anyone but I am AMAZED by how clueless some of the people I know in their 20's are about what's going on and how it will effect them. This will effect you, unfortunately, much worse than the billionaire who just lost half his net worth.

/rant

but...i'm only 13

No Pokemon for you.

Wait, you told me you were 18...oh my god...

siriusxm lost almost $6,000.00 so far but i think it will come around in a few years but its been 4 already and i thought id sell it in a few months and make a nice little profit instead i bought more to lower my break even point thinking after the merger it would go up...nope down down down and thats more to do with there refinancing of debt in feb 09 than the market now although that is of course going to make it harder for them to refinance but who knows ive written it off as a loss in my mind and thats small potatoes for most people getting hit...also mutual funds in my roth ira dropped more than a grand now but im confident they'll rebound when it comes time to cash those in in 5 or 10 years but again thats nothing since im young now is the time to invest if you havent already done so open an ira and invest in 5 star no fee mutual funds...you'll be glad you did...as of now i have no savings am living paycheck to paycheck while paying off my car and credit card debt and will soon be starting to save little by little...my job as far as i can tell is stable i just started and its at a place that so far has not taken a beating financially in either sales or the stock market...I wish everyone nothing but prosperity and good luck during this shitty time we're at right now

i just wanted a piece of your 401k

How many hearts must you break, Lenny?

wise asses

Dave made me laugh though...

its amazing that GD wont even take this thread seriously.

i bought a house in the summer...i'm in the middle of a car loan...my 401k is going downhill though

but i'm not really too worried right now, not that i don't care...it's just not hitting me that hard

by the way, what type investments should i choose for my 401k these days? i have no idea myself...

5 star solid mutual funds...also think apple and google if you can afford those types of stocks cause they aint goin anywhere and are on sale right now (kinda) or just find a mutual fund that has those stocks in its portfolio then you can get in affordably
i really have no clue maybe given will answer you

thanks for the tip...given probably won't answer me, we have somewhat of a negative past

Geez lenny. So when did you become such a slut?

nah, i you lenny even though you told me you were 9 years old when we first met.

i am not a financial advisor. i'll post tomorrow my "stock market" advice but it's really only worth what it's costing you. i would write it out now but i'm lazy and i doubt anyone really gives a shit.

Try to tell that to the poster freaks
Oh wait, I know what their answer is gonna be: Posters are not essential??

Posting is free my friend. Unless you are still living in 1997 and use AOL.

I wouldn't buy apple and especially not google. Google is an advertisement company, but they're priced as a company that does advertisement and useless hardware. After people realize that the only thing google has that's worth anything is their advertising, the bubble will collapse. They're not going to make much with their useless hardware.

g2t, if hypothetically I happened to have about $10k sitting around, would you recommend buying equities (probably in the form of mutual funds) right now? I've been considering it, since it seems like it'd be a good 3-5 year investment, but I also want to stay liquid enough in case of the (highly unlikely) event I lose my job. I know you're not a financial planner, but a financial planner would charge money for equally bad advice.

Is this an answer to my post? Because I was not talking about posts on threads.