I feel like I need to huddle around the virtual campfire at Saving Advice again, safe from the cold, cruel world with some people who have their heads on straight. 
I'm trying not to be a Nervous Nellie, but all this upheaval in the economy is starting to get to me. It's not just what I'm hearing on the news--it's real life.
WAMU-we have our one credit card with them. Things should be business as usual, but it feels strange to have a 2nd credit card provider go belly up on me. (I had a NextBank card years ago.)
Wachovia-I have a brokerage account with them, DMom has two brokerage accounts plus she owns a pretty significant chunk of Wachovia stock which is already showing a loss. I'm hoping they don't do a WAMU and that she doesn't lose it all.
The housing market-My mother, at 91, has finally put her "extra" house up for sale, seemingly at the worst possible time in recent memory. There have only been two showings in about 3 weeks. If it goes on too many months, we may need to help her get it ready to rent out.
It's been a year, and DH still isn't working. In a lot of ways it's been a help, but we could sure use some extra money.
Especially since we are still paying $660 a month for his COBRA health insurance, which runs out in March. The prospects for me getting full-time at my present job don't look good, and the cost of an individual (non-COBRA) policy will be even higher.
Our emergency fund is below the $1000 minimum that I feel comfortable with, and I'm going to have to work hard to get it built up again. I'm unavoidably spending $200 a month on gas now (because of driving my mother), and our car insurance just went up $35 a month.
Somehow I'm going to have to get back to frugal ways, but I don't have time to fiddle around with Quicken like I used to.
Hope things are going a little more smoothly with everyone else.
Back because I'm scared
September 27th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
September 28th, 2008 at 12:01 am 1222560115
September 28th, 2008 at 12:02 am 1222560141
September 28th, 2008 at 12:35 am 1222562117
September 28th, 2008 at 12:47 am 1222562865
September 28th, 2008 at 12:57 am 1222563436
September 28th, 2008 at 01:15 am 1222564539
It seems as if you are been led from one potential disaster to the next.... Terrorism, Iraq, Global Warming Armageddon, now Financial Ruin....
It seems as if you all are been kept in a perpetual state of anxiety.... that can't be good for a person.
My best wishes go out to you all !! :-)
September 28th, 2008 at 01:25 am 1222565150
September 28th, 2008 at 02:12 am 1222567933
September 28th, 2008 at 03:15 am 1222571708
FYI: Holding Wachovia stock seems too risky for me right now.
September 28th, 2008 at 04:17 am 1222575422
However, banking with Wachovia should be fine. I don't foresee a big problem. I forgot to mention that chatters over merger is also a bit livelier than WaMu for example.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:02 am 1222646548
My take on Citigroup (C) talking with Wachovia (WB) is that C is not going to behave like a white knight. C will keep talking until WB is in the ground, then swoop in buy WBs assets for pennies on the dollar. If you are not in a position to lose this WB stock money completely, this is not a wait and see situation.
I've seen this pattern with:
JP Morgan buying Bear Stearns (sic)
B of A buying Merrill Lynch (best resolution of the 4 - $.25 on the dollar)
Barclays buying Lehman
JP Morgan buying WaMu
Barclays was chattering plenty with Lehman. Didn't help Lehman's price any. No chattering with Merrill Lynch. That deal was the best of the 4.
Deposit and the brokerage accounts are different. I'm only talking about the stock shares here.
September 29th, 2008 at 03:56 am 1222660562
What's more, Citigroup itself has its own large heap of sub-prime mess. So, even if they do buy Wachovia, combining these two risky companies just equals to an even bigger ball of risk....
Basically, I agree here. I'm not trying to give anyone any false hopes about a possible recovery with Wachovia from a stock trading point of view. Trade-wise, you'd have to have massive risk tolerance. If you don't have that, by all means, feel free to dump the stock, even if it's at a loss.
I think I may be accidentally sending out confusing signals because I am actually looking for an entry point.... Perhaps not necessarily with WB, but just financials in general. But I do have the risk tolerance for it, but what I do isn't what I'd recommend unless you also have the same level of risk tolerance. Even then, I don't think WB is a good stock to hold right now.