Say what you want about the DOW being meaningless to America's retirement accounts ( really....heard that here on Skybox.... ) and you can say "hey look at where George W had it up to in 2007" before the financial and economic collapse ... ) but the chart says that Obama was handed a stock market in ruins and tatters and he has managed to preside over a steady resurgence in the DOW index: http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-charts/?CA=0&CB=0&CC=0&CD=0&D4=1&DD=1&D5=0&DCS=2&MA0=0&MA1=0&C5=0&C5D=0&C6=0&C7=0&C7D=0&C8=0&C9=0&CF=0&D8=0&DB=0&DC=0&D9=0&DA=0&D1=0&symbol=%24us%3aINDU&SZ=0&PT=9 My personal problem is that I was so jaded by the games that went down during W's tenure and the subesquent financial collapse and so jarred by the sudden loss of my job in late 2008 that I have never jumped back in to a stock position after I moved it out of stocks upon that sudden job loss and I have stubbornly kept what was left of my 401K in fixed income accounts ever since. Dammit! That's the job loss that just keeps on stinging and stinging. In the past 3.75 years I figure I have lost earnings in my 401 K of around $150,000.00 by not staying in a stock position and also by not having the income means to make the contributions to the account that I had been making. Nice..... :cry: Between lost home equity and lost income from the previous job combined with those potential lost earnings from the 401K account I am down about $500,000.00 in the past 4 years. And you wonder why I am so interested in keeping my social security sound?
The Dow continues to go up despite a Republican House that won't let Obama get any of his legislation passed. Hum! Seems to me the Dow is going up, not because of Obama but in spite of him.
I think our Social Security is doomed. Its simple numbers... fewer people in each generation, fewer people working, baby boomers hitting that age in droves and Congress using the fund as a piggy bank.
:roll: why would anyone in their right mind keep any funds in fixed income if you have the choice to increase w. mutual funds. From 2008 to when I retired 8 years ago I increase my 401 in the growth fund an average of 25% Now Jim has it at Schwabb and we are still making money and have nice dividend checks to boot. The only one to blame for a lack of movement is yourself no one else.
That was since 2008 Mrs. J....since......and I made the move the day after I suddenly lost my job in the midst of a free falling economy and a job market that was screaming toward the bottom with bankruptcy looming in Detroit for GM and Chrysler.. Call it self preservation and an extreme distrust of just about anything to do with Wall Street.
fUNNY i HAD CONTROL OF MINE ALL 17 YEARS W. HSBC AND JIM HAS HAD CONTROL OF IT THE LAST TWO I MADE MONEY IN GROWTH FUNDS MAKING MONEY NOW ON DIVIDEND STOCKS AND APPLE .. JIM IS VERY GOOD W. THE MARKET ALWAYS TOLD HIM HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A BROKER BUT HE WOULD RATHER BE POOR AND TEACH. BUT YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE RISK
Mrs Jo Co, Some are more risk adverse than others. I pulled out of the market in early 08, when, by chance, I was listening to the radio on my way to work and stumbled upon an analyst on Bloomberg radio carefullly explaining in terms that even I could understand about how the mortgage crisis was going to crater our economy. Usually, I listen to news or sports on my way to work I slowly moved back into the market in 09 but feel that I am riding a tiger with really shaky hands.
:wink: Boba yeah we lost alot but we also made enough to put Jim through Grad school to update his teachers creditenial. 3 years he didnt work just school mine was the only income. We took it as a learning experience. We are more into the dividend stocks rather than the high risks we did buy apple low > But yes it is risky We are by no means weathly but we have enough to cover our expenses and not ask for anything even now when I am considered too old to work But we have always been the type that handled things on our own w.o asking for any assistance from family or the government even though there were times it was tempting. Jim does alot of research into each investment befroe we buy or make changes.
Americans’ Incomes Have Fallen $3,040 During the Obama “Recovery”… Via Weekly Standard: Americans must be wondering how much more of this “recovery” they can afford. New figures from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, compiled by Sentier Research, show that the typical American household’s real (inflation-adjusted) income has actually dropped 5.7 percent during the Obama “recovery.” Using constant 2012 dollars (to adjust for inflation), the median annual income of American households was $53,718 as of June 2009, the last month of the recession. Now, after 38 months of this “recovery,” it has fallen to $50,678 — a drop of $3,040 per household. Yet it gets worse. Amazingly, incomes have dropped even more during the “recovery” than they did during the recession. In fact, they’ve dropped more than twice as much as they did during the recession. From the start to the end of the recession, the real median income of American households fell $1,413, or 2.6 percent. From the end of the recession to the present day, it has dropped $3,040, or 5.7 percent. This begs the question: What kind of “recovery” compares unfavorably with the recession from which it’s ostensibly recovering?