IRA dropped 20%
 

Don't know 1929. But IRA did drop 20% from January 1st to today:grr: Not sure is this the bottom, or just the beginning?

Just the beginning I'm afraid. Only one person in government knows what's happening and why, let alone what to do about it, and the rest of them won't listen to him.
We're in for one helluva bumpy ride.

Now is not the time to panic and start moving monies around. The sure recipe for disaster is sell low, buy high. When folks get nervous they start selling off their securities for more "stable" investments, but unless the money is needed in the very near future riding out the rough spots will return much more in the long run. I had to wait nearly 10 years to recoup an early investment that was involved in a stock fraud, but I waited it out and doubled my investment in the ensuing 5 years. I am too old to make that kind of wait and see approach for that length of time, but by the same token I am not bailing in the near future.

Most securities based retirement funds have lost 20% or a little more and it is going to take some time, possibly a couple of years, to regain the loss. It certainly is not going to recover as precipitously as it fell.

Washtington Mutual Inc. collapsed. Not sure who's going to send new bills..

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Today is 26 September, 2008. It will be in history book.

WAMU was siezed by FDIC and purchased by JP Morgan Chase... all monies in that bank are still secure...

They collapsed because of the normal buiness dealings, then people went whacko and pulled their money out, 16 billion in 2 days is what I heard.


Always the same on bank runs, if folks get skittish, they panic and pull their money and it rolls down hill from there.....

Now the question.....what impact is this on the price/value of our Luger collections? I'm sure in the long run, OK, but? It's like IRA's, 401K's, etc losing xx%...us older folks don't live forever. To recover from the market losses that is.

Not a big deal. Personally, I will keep most of the small collection, and will pass them to the next generation. That's the original plan anyway..... regardless the price going up or down. The most important task is educating youngs so they would love what they will inherit and enjoy.

10/10 alvin, the most important task in this life is not to accumulate money but educate.

Who would that be?

When the value of money or investments is dropping through the floor, its always good to own something of substantial value like a house, gold or a luger collection! :)

Ron Paul.

I put a bit in the Federal Thrift Savings and took a pretty good hit.
I think it will recover, but will take a while.
Just good I don't plan to use it for a bit, though.
I would have been smarter to bury it in the back yard as it took a hit last year as well.

Many people with limited funds are uneasy with spending, though.
I went to a big estate sale yesterday.
A stone mint original 1947 Indian Chief went for $19,000. It had been expected to hit 35,000.
Couple cars and a backhoe went reasonably cheap.