Owner: myBudget 360 URL:http://www.mybudget360.com Join Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:50:18 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Examining investing ideas in a market where credit is tightening, housing is in a bear market, gold is up, oil is rising, and stocks are falling. Challenging the conventional buy and hold logic. Looking at your 401(K), retirement accounts, savings, and ot Site statistics:Click here
Why Credit is not the Same as Cash: Thornburg Mortgage and Margin Calls. 2008-03-03 15:59:50 As many of you may or may not be aware, the next big thing that is pushing mortgage lenders and financials into the ground is margin calls. What is occurring in the market is companies leveraged to the heavens, are now realizing the stark difference between liquid and illiquid assets. Take a look [...] Read more:Mortgage
, Margin
Where should you put Your Money? Investing in a Recessionary Environment. 2008-02-29 16:16:28 In two days, the market relinquished all weekly gains and looking at market fundamentals there really is very little doubt as to why this occurred. This past week, the two large mortgage behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced record quarterly losses. We also got a report that the housing market dropped at [...] Read more:Money
, Investing
, Environment
The Scariest Graph Ever: Home Mortgage Debt and Consumer Credit. 2008-02-25 23:07:26 As the housing market continues its crash and burn path, it is sometimes difficult to put into words the incredible amount of mortgage debt floating around in the market. Since the 90s, mortgage debt has exploded and has followed a celestial trajectory to the moon. Mortgage
debt has grown since 1997 for over [...] Read more:Graph
, Consumer
Visa prepares for near-$19B IPO: Great Timing with Credit Crunch 2008-02-25 12:08:08 In what has to be a case of the worst timing award, Visa is planning to launch an $18.76 billion IPO. When credit gets tight, go IPO:
NEW YORK (AP) — Visa Inc. said Monday its initial public offering could raise up to $19 billion - making it the largest in U.S. history - even [...] Read more:Great
, Timing
, Crunch
What are the best jobs of 2008? 2008-02-24 12:32:24 As the economy evolves and takes a different course, what are the best jobs for 2008? Almost with a process of elimination, we can assume that the jobs that are contracting the most have much to do with housing and finance. In the midst of all of this there are still many bright [...]
Sharper Image out of Focus in Current Economy 2008-02-22 12:50:23 Sharper Image
, the high end uber gadget seller, recently filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. Another sign that the times are now changing as reported by the New York Times:
“The San Francisco-based company, which specializes in massage chairs, robots and other quirky gadgets, said it plans to close half of its 184 U.S stores [...] Read more:Focus
, Current
Credit Nation: The Back Breaking Debt Problem in the United States. 2008-02-15 19:44:30 With so much talk about the credit crisis you would think that many people would realize that not all credit is good for you. So what is the reaction of our central bank leaders? They decide to extend more liquidity to banks but the only problem is the majority of the population is [...] Read more:Breaking
, Problem
, United
, States
$20 Trillion in Housing Wealth at Risk: The Potential Fall of the U.S. Housing Market. 2008-02-08 11:09:38 Current estimates put American residential wealth at $20.66 billion. This is an incredibly large number and that is why even the relatively small percentage decline in prices last year has put the entire economy at risk. According to the Case-Shiller Index which tracks 20 metropolitan areas in the United States, the index is [...] Read more:Housing
, Trillion
, Wealth
, Potential
, Market
Investing in Foreign Currencies: Recession Proof Investing. 2008-02-02 13:26:49 As people panic to find places to store their wealth and preserve what they have earned, you may want to consider having a portion of your investment portfolio in foreign currencies. If you want to know how poorly the market has done over the past year, take a look at the following data:
Index
2007
2008
Return
DOW Jones
12,487
12,743
2%
NASDAQ
2,435
2,413
-0.91%
S&P [...] Read more:Investing
, Foreign
, Currencies
, Proof
Retail Sales Fall Once Again: S&P Predict Market Bottom. Who is Right? 2008-03-13 20:00:03 Today the retail sales numbers came out at a much lower expected number than the market had expected. What this now shows is consumers are tightening their belts and becoming more deliberate on how they are managing their money. The fact that we went into negative territory pretty much cements the notion that [...] Read more:Retail
, Sales
, Again
, Market
, Bottom
, Right
Bear Stearns: The Rise and Fall of the Mighty Bear. 2008-03-17 18:29:52 Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are probably aware of the JP Morgan/Fed orchestrated bailout. The amazing thing about this entire situation is how quickly Bear Stearns
went under. In the matter of one year, the once fifth largest investment bank was bought out for a pittance of its once mighty [...] Read more:Mighty
Housing Market: Case-Shiller 10 City Index Worst Drop Since 1987. 2008-03-25 12:59:28 The Case-ShillerIndex
, which tracks same home sales over a period of time instead of aggregate median prices per month, has dropped nearly 10.7 percent on a year over year basis. Most analyst favor the Case-Shiller Index because it looks at a single home and tracks it historically over time giving a better and more [...] Read more:Housing
, Market
Worst Ever Housing Market in California: The Numbers Revealed. 2008-03-28 01:46:16 It is clearly no surprise to anyone that housing is in a major slump across the country. What seems to be taking people by surprise is the rapidity of how quickly the market is retracting all the gains that it had made during the previous years. California
faced many of the benefits during [...] Read more:Housing
, Market
, Numbers
$231 Billion in Writedowns and Credit Losses: The List of Mortgage Players Grows Larger. 2008-04-02 13:20:27 Yesterday UBS AG said it would write down a staggering $19 billion on assets connected to mortgage assets. The figure is staggering yet the market rallied nearly 400 points on this news. Have we reached a turning point where writedowns simply do not matter? This figure was the largest since the writedowns [...] Read more:Losses
, Mortgage
, Players
Mortgage Lending: Past vs Present Diagram. Where it went wrong. 2008-04-20 21:34:07 Someone sent me an e-mail with a graph of the difference between past and current mortgage lending. I decided to spruce up the diagram to give you a better idea of how many additional layers have been added to the current mortgage lending process. What you’ll notice is the detachment from the actual [...] Read more:Mortgage
, Lending
, Present
, Diagram
How Many People are Really Walking Away From Mortgages? Looking for the Invisible Group. 2008-04-23 12:56:09 I’ve been reading many articles talking about those that are currently “walking away” from their homes. It is now common knowledge that some people are intentionally walking away from their mortgage commitments. When we talk about walking away, we are talking about a very specific group that can pay but is choosing not [...] Read more:Walking
, Group
Rebate Checks Go Out Tonight: Too Little Too Late. 2008-04-28 14:42:51 The much anticipated rebate checks start going out today. In fact, over the next few weeks $110 billion will be sent out to the American public. This week, only electronic deposits will occur with paper checks being sent out later. There seems to be a contingency of people who believe that this [...] Read more:Rebate
, Tonight
Owners’ Equivalent of Rent: The Fed and BLS Gaming the System. 2008-05-09 02:15:54 It probably won’t come as a surprise to you that consumer prices are rising at an incredibly rapid pace. If you were to only look at the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) CPI numbers you would think that inflation is hovering around 3 to 4 percent. Of course this is utterly devoid [...] Read more:Owners
, Gaming
, System
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