The best thing you can do now is simplify your life as much as possible, become as self sufficient as you can. Shop second hand via Craig's List and garage sales when prudent. And understand that when they sold you that 401k and told you it was going to be comparable to a traditional company pension, they lied to you.
Before the election we had our 401ks positioned aggressively, heavy in stocks. Now we are 100% tax advantage municipal bonds (State Farm calls it TABs). Was it a smart move? I have no idea. I'm just hoping it makes enough to barely keep up with inflation while offering some small protection from an inevitable catastrophic stock market correction.
But honestly, the future of all 401ks look pretty bleak. I don't know about you, but I was told my money would double every ten years. What a freaking joke. I would have done infinitely better if I had invested a monthly sum into buying a little silver or gold.
Will Obama reach out his evil greedy fingers and scoop up all our 401ks? Not openly. But he may cause the biggest stock market crash in our lifetime. And just when people are the most destroyed, he will step in and offer his hand, like God reaching down to Adam. He will declare that in order to protect your retirement accounts from this kind of disaster ever happening again... all 401ks will be required to contain a high percentage of Government Bonds. And people will THANK him for it. And just like that, our retirement is yet another tool of government control over our lives.
Ah! I get so depressed when I think to much about it!
But if you have any further advice I'd certainly be interested. I try to stay prepared and informed, but honestly most of the time I feel like we are all being drug along helplessly.
I did learn one single positive thing about this financial disaster. We plan on stying in our home long long term. And we have stopped sending extra payments. We no longer want to pay the note early. At least when inflation destroys the value of our savings, the same number of dollar bills will still pay a house note.
Look! I wrote a book! I sure don't blame you if you decide not to read this. :p
I wouldn’t call that a book. Read my home page if you want that (i.e., there’s a reason why FR is slower these days...LOL).
Yea, it was a tough call for me, but I ultimately went the other way and decided to pay off my mortgage. I was paying 5% on it, and not getting a red cent on my savings or one of my IRAs. So screw it, I get 5% by paying down my mortgage. I ended up cashing out a rather large IRA last year after deciding to eat the 10% penalty. I simply don’t want that money available for their taking later and I know that no one, at least here in Texas, can touch my house (as long as I keep up with taxes).
I only wished I had done this earlier, as I probably lost $15k just twiddling my thumbs the past few years.