| Page 4 of 5 < > |
The Financial Crisis and You
Eve Applebaum and Scott Dominick wonder whether they should buy that perfect condo in Brooklyn.
(Courtesty Of Eve Applebaum)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The couple is right to worry about the economy. "I completely understand their feeling," said Bryan Beatty, a partner and investment adviser with Egan, Berger and Weiner in Vienna. "I don't think there will be a Great Depression II, but I do believe there will be a recession. It seems that the government will make sure the system remains functional so that we will not see a dramatic amount of workers losing jobs, some but not a lot."
One thing is for sure. "The price of houses are in your favor," Beatty said. "The rates are good."
Mehdi Grayeli, an investment adviser at Grayeli Investment Management in Reston, said: "My suggestion would be to continue on with purchasing the condo, if of course the offered price is a fair market value price and you can still afford the mortgage payment, [and] you are not planning to sell the place for at least another three to five years."
In Search of the Midas Touch
Madeleine Dunn, 60, has always considered herself a conservative investor. But given the rate of inflation and many economists' predictions that a government bailout plan could hasten it, she's wondering if that's the right approach.
A senior legal assistant at Met Life Insurance in New York, she has a 401(k) account, which she has kept in a fixed-income fund with a 5 percent rate. "I don't invest any," she said.
She's got other money set aside for retirement: a small IRA with Fidelity, a savings account and a pension. But with the value of the dollar and the economy in such a precarious state, she wonders how much she will actually have when she retires.
"I was hoping to retire when I was 62, but I don't know now if I'll be able to," said the Manhattan renter. "I don't want to give up my job not knowing what my money is going to be worth."
She wonders: Should she move her money into another currency, or even precious metals? Gold has been doing pretty well, after all.
"What does someone like me do? Should I sit and wait?"
Don't start dabbling in investments that are difficult for even seasoned investors to understand, said Jeff Huber, director of research at Huber, Weakland & Associates in Ellicott City.
"Historically, non-U.S.-dollar-denominated currencies and precious metals, they have provided a hedge against certain inflationary environments," he said.
But, "non-U.S.-dollar-denominated currencies and precious metals are significantly more volatile . . . than Ms. Dunn's current investments. It would be difficult to recommend these asset classes to Ms. Dunn."
