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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Vess1, post: 647628, member: 13650&quot;]These days, I&#039;d be looking to put money in anything that will at least maintain value.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; From what I&#039;ve been reading, this has to be one of the riskiest times since it&#039;s inception to be in the markets.&nbsp;&nbsp; The government says unemployment is at 9.5%.&nbsp;&nbsp; Shadowstats which figures unemployment the way it used to be done puts the figure at 21%.&nbsp; Take out government jobs and jobs that rely on government programs and now the private sector is probably closer to 40-50% real unemployment.&nbsp;&nbsp; We&#039;ve lost a million more jobs than Obama predicted we would if we DIDN&#039;T pass the stimulus bill. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; When it sets in how realisticaly bad things are, I expect the markets to plummet.&nbsp; I&#039;ve read that a lot of the stimulus money has been pumped into the markets to falsely prop them up and lure people back in.&nbsp; &nbsp; I know classical wisdom would have people telling you that the 1950&#039;s are just around the corner.&nbsp; It&#039;s traditionally been the only way to average a 10% return, but I&#039;m saying, I believe we can forget about that for a long time.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp; Lets see.&nbsp; Unemployment has gotten worse.&nbsp; GDP is down to -5%.&nbsp; Yet the markets are rising??&nbsp;&nbsp; Makes total sense! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie11" alt=":rolleyes:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />&nbsp; &nbsp; Unemployment benefits are going to start running out for a lot of people over the next 6-12 months.&nbsp; Then what?&nbsp; &nbsp; The stimulus is going to run out.&nbsp; Then what? </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Even if you do have a gain, you need to subtract the dollars value, broker fees, transaction fees, inflation and finally, hack capital gains tax out of it.&nbsp; Maybe you end up with a profit if you do extremely well.&nbsp; Which I don&#039;t see what would indicate anything going that way in the near to mid term.&nbsp; Or long term.&nbsp;&nbsp; As we await a total dollar devaluation on top of it to temporarily save us from our debt while killing everyone&#039;s paper savings.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; If you need it, you should probably just leave it in cash, on hand.&nbsp; In case of a bank holiday.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; It won&#039;t make much difference anyway.&nbsp;&nbsp; Inflation&#039;s around 6% at the moment.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can tie it up (3 business days away) in an online account at 1.4%.&nbsp; Or try one of their CDs at a whopping 1.5%.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Which is MUCH better than the 1.0% my bank is offering.&nbsp;&nbsp; But, they&#039;ll gladly hold on to it for you as you&#039;re losing 5% or more each year that goes by.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; The current climate we live in is not real conducive for the average guy to make it in investing.&nbsp; We&#039;ll be lucky if we don&#039;t all lose our shirts if people are willing to get realistic about it.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Nobody can blame you if you wanted to go the precious metals route.&nbsp;&nbsp; Many people will continue to tell you to rely on the stock market because they themselves are relying on the pyramid scheme for their own retirement survival.&nbsp;&nbsp; Unfortunately, I think eventually someone will be left holding the bag.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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