I am just a simple caveman ...

[tehdawgfather]

So this financial world is imploding, Lehman is falling apart, BofA is buying Merrill for corporate chump change and AIG is next.

I'm next to naïve about this financial stuff ... can someone please tell me what this means for the U.S., the world and, most importantly, me?

Do I invest now? Wait a week? Never? Buy a house now?

What do I do?

Comments

[scoreboard]

It means Man U is gonna need a new shirt sponsor =)

Aside from that, I have no idea, although:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1242

seems to be pretty good an explanation.

[mandalaya]

If I knew what this meant for the world, I'd be a very rich financial expert. But from what I see, in the short run it's taking its toll on not only the US but also Europe, although the dollar is falling vs. the pound and euro again. If you see a particular stock that you know to have inherent value that is (you think) artificially low due to the nasty market at the moment, by all means buy some, but I've heard it recommended to stay away from financial stocks for now, and that seems like excellent advice to me. Stockholders in Lehman must be crying, for example. What kind of investments are you considering? Most mutual funds are designed to be balanced and weather market downturns better than the average single stock, but caveat emptor on all investments, always

[anonymous]

What it means is that if you have more than $100,000 in any one bank, you should probably spread it around, to make sure your money is insured in case your bank fails.

There are over 100 banks on the FDIC's "troubled list" (they don't publish it to prevent runs on the banks) so this probably isn't over by half.

A financial adviser I went on a few dates with said in August that he thought we were maybe 1/3 through the worst. Maybe we've seen the worst now, but maybe not.

NPR I find is a pretty good source of info on the financial crisis. That Fannie and Freddie needed a taxpayer rescue is a HUGE deal though. Everything I've read is saying we haven't seen the financial sector in worse shape since 1929.

So my advice is, brace yourself. Be glad you're employed.

[libberroo]

Oops, that was me above.