Wall Street Bailout

Too bad the government doesn't help consumers like us who have gotten into debt they cannot pay due to circumstances beyond our control. In my particular case, We lost an income and I could no longer pay my credit cards. It was either food/rent or the cc. I hate being in this position, but what else could we do? Now the Federal Government is bailing out the fat cats in suits while we sit here on pins and needles waiting for the shoe to drop meaning lawsuits, harrassment from collectors, the whole ball of wax. The attorneys are the only people making money and sucking consumers dry these days.

It's already affected me, my 401k plan has lost so much money it isn't even funny anymore. I am at a loss at what to do with it, I watch it dwindle down daily, yet I don't know what the heck I can do about it. Do I leave it alone and hope things will turn around and MAYBE I will recoup some of my loss, or do I pull all my money out of there and stick it under my mattress, pay tax and penalties? All I know is my retirement money will be non existent if this keeps up. :shock:

And i know people who now can't retire thanks to this mess--while the CEO from Lehman made "only" $350 million last year, poor baby.
But how do we keep our money safe while this is going on, short of pulling it out? Would rolling over to an IRA help?

I know some people that believed the "experts" when they kept saying to leave your money in your 401K's. Well, the people I know finally got sick of hearing that and watching their accts. lose their savings, soooooo...they've taken the penalties and have put that money into CD's. A slow, but SURE way.

I don't know, but I would have liked to have been invited on that AIG retreat that occurred just a few days after the bailout bill was passed. You know, the one that cost over $400,000! Since some of my tax dollars probably went to paying that trip, you would have thought I would have gotten at least a thank-you note from them!

I think the government should be looking long and hard into that company, since they were pretty much the ones that instigated this whole bailout bill mess in the first place.

Oh, and don't forget the former CEO for Washing Mutual, that only worked 17 days and managed to get a 19 million dollar paycheck.

Where can I find a crazy paying job like that?

While the rest of us "commoners" have to cut back and and struggle just to make it!

I gotta stop thinking about it, my eyes feel like they're about to pop out of my head because my blood pressure keeps climbing!

401k versus IRA, it's all really the same pot, just different classifications for tax purposes. For example, I rolled my 401K into an IRA a couple years ago (simply because my job got rid of its 401K plan), but yet my money stayed in the same mutual funds as they were in the 401K.

401K or IRA really won't improve your return; what matters is where the money is actually invested -- ie the stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, etc that make up your 401K or IRA.

The other thing is that if you roll over your 401K to an IRA, you might lose any of your employer's match that is not yet vested.

Other than that, I really can't tell you where you should be investing your funds (or else I'd be doing that for a living). But keep in mind ... if you sell while it's down, then it's a guaranteed loss to you. The market may rebound (eventually...) in which case you might recoup some losses down the line if you leave your money where it is.

Debt Cruncher, thank you for your wise post. I was hoping that you'd weigh in on this topic. And Ron, you and me, buddy! LOL!! I told my husband that Lehman could've hired me for a million--and I would've run their company into the ground, saving them 300 million!! Oh well...
But seriously, I am so scared right now. There are desperate people near me. There is a huge branch of the Washington Mutual bank (yes, one of the banks that almost went down) across the street from where I work--and it was held up at gunpoint in broad daylight last week. At the concert venue where I have a second job, someone stole the copper in the parking lot lights--and now the low bid is $62,000 to fix it. We are going to have to have temporary lights for the Santana concert tomorrow night.
Two grocery stores near my work have also been held up. And to top it off, my 401K, in which I had $9500 two weeks ago, now has $8300. I know it's not much, but it's the most I ever saved, and I now have to watch as it dwindles.

And the sad part about this whole mess is that we have not seen the bottom yet. I just get sick to my stomach thinking about it. I am with everyone here. It makes me so angry to think about how these few people have impacted (negatively) the entire world. All I have to say to them is one word - KARMA.

On the upside, I was watching the news the other night and they were saying that the government is looking at another stimulus rebate check after the election. Don't know if it will happen and it will be pale in comparsion to what the CEO's will get but at least it is a little something. I hope they don't think this will help us forget what has happened.