On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 500 points--more than 4 percent. The last time we saw a drop like that was when the stock market reopened after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The drop resulted in an estimated $700 billion vanishing from investment portfolios such as retirement plans and government pension funds.
After investor confidence dropped, Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old investment bank, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. In an effort to avoid Lehman’s fate, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America.
To keep money moving amidst the financial turmoil, the federal government pumped a total of $70 billion into the nation’s financial system through open market operations.
The White House is trying to calm the public’s economic fears. President Bush held a press conference to discuss the Lehman bankruptcy.
“In the short run, adjustments in the financial markets can be painful both for people concerned about their investments and for the employees of the affected firms,” said Bush in the press conference yesterday.
“In the long run, I’m confident that our capital markets are flexible and resilient and can deal with these adjustments.”
Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, said in a new TV ad that he was the person who could fix the financial problems, as he promised to clean up “greed and corruption” on Wall Street. He also said that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, called the current financial turmoil “the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.”
He further said that McCain would only deliver more of the same White House policies that have since failed the system.
Lehman, Merrill & You
While the politicians battle it out and the media collects the sound bites, let’s examine what these recent upheavals in the American financial system means to the rest of us.
The stock market has been manipulated by reckless investing and overinflated prices by Wall Street investors for a long time.
The market is now in need of a recovery period. From now on, it will act more conservatively and it will be more difficult to raise money.
This could put pressure on the already struggling middle and lower class.
Truth is, the average 401k investor lost about 4 percent of his or her nest egg due to the huge drop on Monday.
Financial experts are saying not to sell stock, repeating themselves as they usually do, saying “don’t panic, keep strong, don’t pull out and everything will even out in the long run.” History has typically proven that to be true.
One thing financial experts say people can do to protect their investments is to make sure they don’t exceed FDIC insurance limits.
If you have more than $100,000 in a CD or IRA, it’s probably a good idea to spread your wealth across different banks.
Another concern is that the tough times will encourage lenders to tighten credit even more, making it more difficult not only for small and large companies to borrow money, but for individual homeowners as well.
This credit crackdown period will likely last for at least the next year as the market recovers.
Needless to say, although most financial experts are saying we’re not in a “fiscal-end-of-the-world scenario,” we should all be strapping on our seatbelts.
Tags: chapter 7 bankruptcy, credit card, Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act
Posted in Your Credit Score | 2 Comments »