Millions Lost Trillions
I used to finish my assignements early in grade school. Mostly I always had a book with me to read, but one teacher challenged me to write all the numbers to 1 million.
“Piece of cake” I thought. (Arrogant little brat!)
I learned my lesson. It took me forever. I wouldn’t give up, and I filled sheets and sheets of paper with numbers, all the way to one million.
It’s a lesson I won’t forget.
But a billion? A trillion? Those are numbers that boggle my mind. I can’t think that big.
So far, the losses are mostly on paper – they won’t be real losses until investors go to sell, or cash in.
It’s a huge demographic, the baby-boomers getting ready to retire – or as this article from the Washington Post states – maybe not so fast:
Retirement Savings Lose $2 Trillion in 15 Months
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 8, 2008; Page A01
The stock market’s prolonged tumble has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings in the past 15 months, a blow that could force workers to stay on the job longer than planned, rein in spending and possibly further stall an economy reliant on consumer dollars, Congress’s top budget analyst said yesterday.
For many Americans, pensions and 401(k) plans are their only form of savings. The dwindling of these assets — about a 20 percent decline overall — is another setback just as many people are grappling with higher gas and food prices, more credit card debt, declining home values and less access to loans.
You can read the entire article in the Washington Post, here.
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My personal thinking is stock market is like gambling , win some, lose some .. but its sad that so many people have lost big time .
You are right, Grey, it is a gamble. People forget that, and think the markets will always go up. If they can’t handle these crises – and there are always crises – then they shouldn’t be investing in stocks. There are other investments that have a more measured and predictable rate of return, but not so lucrative. 😦
Intlxpatr , if we can put together $2.5 billion dollars we can buy General Motors, mind you we wont have enough cash left over to fill the cars we will produce with gas to get them out of the parking lot to the dealers .
How the mighty have fallen
LLOOLL Daggero! As if! I don’t want General Motors! YOU buy General Motors.
So far, most of the losses are on paper. Money you invested grew, and we got happier and happier watching that paper mount up. Now, the value is down – is it less than what we have invested? Do we have other investments? These market things happen – even major corrections happen – and often in October, go figure. You don’t lose until you want to sell – if you can hang in, you can weather the pits and flourish in the upswing.
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