Beddows
Abbotsford, Canada
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Joined: 04/14/2002
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Quote:We may think we have good pensions (I've thought so too about mine) but when I look at my plan's equity holdings, I get very scared.
My plan is with the Telecommunication Workers Union. They only have 0.63% in equities. 71.5% is in fixed income & 2.4 % in hedge funds. teh rest is in real estate rental income. Canada has not had a real estate crash as in the US.
2004 Chevy 3500 Duramax DRW
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VE3ESN
Ontario, Canada
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Joined: 03/08/2002
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Your plan is in much better shape....I belong to the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan which has 57% in Canadian, International, and US Equities, and 43% in Fixed Income. The International Equity portion is the highest equity position (about 30% of the total), and this is quite worrisome to me.
Seems that the old "rules" about asset allocation aren't as valid as they once were. The market isn't nearly as transparent, and there's an excessive amount of leveraging that is causing such wild gyrations.
Jerry & Susie
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my3sons
Raleigh, NC
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Joined: 02/08/2003
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Doug:
You are not alone. I am on a campus tour right now with my son. The tuition is $53k per year. I cannot afford that kind of money. He wants to go to a nearby public university. I can handle that much easier than the private school route. I re-allocated his college funds from an aggressive fund to 2/3 income funds about a year ago. However, I am still down over $25k.
Like you, my retirement is at least 15 years off. Personally, I don't care if my retirement includes a stint at Wal-Mart as a greeter. I plan on working through retirement. It does not matter WHERE I work in retirement. Hence, I am not worried about my retirement. I just want to work somewhere.
My wife has not worked in 20 years. This lack of a second income is now REALLY causing problems. No end is in sight on this issue.
We are in this boat together, my friend. Want to split a job at Wal-Mart in about 15 years???
1 dog, 3 sons, 1 wife
Life is good
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Doug4.7
Hartselle, AL, USA
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Joined: 10/02/2003
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my3sons wrote:We are in this boat together, my friend. Want to split a job at Wal-Mart in about 15 years??? At this rate, we'll need the jobs now. Heck, with 3 teens, I spend enough $$$ at Wally World already to think about getting a second job there as a greeter just for the employee discount. 
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2oldman
WA
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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Bob Brinker blew it.
I've subscribed to Markettimer for a couple years, but I doubt I'll be renewing. This crash is something even I feared, but 'stayed the course' because of him.
Sorry Bob.. you're outa here.
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Doug4.7
Hartselle, AL, USA
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Joined: 10/02/2003
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2oldman wrote:Bob Brinker blew it....Sorry Bob.. you're outa here. There is a scam I've read about where you send out 10,000 (or so) letters/e-mails to people. Half of them, you tell them that some stock will go up, the other half, you tell them it is going down. Now take the half you guessed right and pick some other stock and do the same thing. You do this until you've got a number of folks who think you can predict the future. THEN you tell them to buy your stock.
Clean up....
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cheridave
Orange County, CA
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Joined: 07/06/2006
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My3Sons,
Thanks for the response.
Now another question for the folks that know.
They keep telling us that this "Bailout" is for "Main Street" and not "Wall Street", but yet everyone that talks always references "Wall Street"....
So since alot of people have retirement 401ks, etc that is invested in "Wall Street" and this is suppose to save "Main Street" why didn't they declare a "Wall Street Holiday" and stop and freeze "Wall Street" immediately until the fix is in place and working so "Main Street" folks didn't lose most of their money????
Dave
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Beddows
Abbotsford, Canada
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Joined: 04/14/2002
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Quote:Your plan is in much better shape....I belong to the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan which has 57% in Canadian, International, and US Equities, and 43% in Fixed Income. The International Equity portion is the highest equity position (about 30% of the total), and this is quite worrisome to me.
Seems that the old "rules" about asset allocation aren't as valid as they once were. The market isn't nearly as transparent, and there's an excessive amount of leveraging that is causing such wild gyrations.
My wife retired from BCIT, they sent a letter sayign they are in good shape, but I am not sure what mix they have.
BTW one of the best programs to track stock & funds in Canada is globeinvestor.com
Canadian dollar took a huge hit today, down to 84 cents, it was 97 cents US only 143 days ago. The US dollar is going strong as people pull out of equities & go into cash. It does not seem to make sense. you would think the US dollar would be tanking.
On the other hand Canadian stocks right now should be a good buy for Americans. They are deflated 15% due to what is likely a temporary dollar difference and Canada's economy is actually in far better shape than the US.
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my3sons
Raleigh, NC
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Joined: 02/08/2003
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Freezing all trading on Wall Street would make matters worse. Some folks, alot of folks, threw in the towel this past week and took out their money from stocks. If trading was stopped, there would be an inherent distrust in the markets that would eventually cause EVERYONE to pull their money out of the market.
Actually, Wall Street does have limits on computer trading. When market losses get to a certain point, the automatic trades come off so that there is not an uncontrollable computer selloff.
Also, Wall Street did stop short selling for a while last week. They allowed it again late in the week and, in my view, the short selling caused more of the downward volume.
I don't have any answers on where the market is going. To me, I think we are either at the bottom or close to it. Plus, I still think the economy is in better shape than what the market is telling us. The market is being driven by fear while, in my opinion, we are in a recession but we will avoid a depression. Just my thoughts that are worth doggone little.
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Skid Row Joe
On the road in America
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Joined: 04/26/2006
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The new global paradigm of financials will solve all the ills.
I have a sweet tender nature, however I enjoy sharing my thoughts and opinions. 
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