Being retired and having forgone a pension I am very balanced; all with Vanguard.

 

AIG is rumored to be the next company to go under and claim bankruptcy.

I downloaded Bloomberg to my phone and I try to check out the head topics every day or every other day just to learn a little. Im not sure if its the best source for info though.

 

I'm confused. Yesterday the Fed said they wouldn't bail out AIG but NY would allow AIG to borrow $20bn from itself to stay afloat. Today the Fed is apparently loaning money to AIG. I don't understand their criteria for which companies they support (bail out) and which ones they don't.

 

Unfortunately, by the time a turnaround is CLEAR, then it's too late. '

Remember those charts that compare your total longterm return based on whether you were IN the stock mkt on the 10 best days in 10 years (or whatever time period) vs. OUT of the stock mkt on those days? This makes the diff between a low return vs a historical ROI of 8% or 9% or more.... In essence, that's why I'm not making any big changes in the foreseeable future....maybe a little selling of a couple stocks on a bounce

 

Frank, a local older friend who used to be a small-company CEO swears by Bloomberg for good info. I've bookmarked bloomberg.com and often check it to see "what's happening"

Glad to hear that you're in tune with financials at age 22....will serve you well later in life

 

Exactly, it

 

I'll admit I was tempted earlier today to take a play at AIG and get the bounce back.
but the old saying goes something like "it's easy to make a small fortune day trading, just start with a large one."

 

It appears that Lehman will go to Barclay's, but now I hear Washington Mutual is on the bubble.

 

It is not clear. It all depends on how many others they will drag down with them. Credit Default Swaps involve many many companies. If a big holder of notes gets hit when another big company goes into defualt, they all start falling like a house of cards. Many folks yel "let 'em all fall", but what they don;t realize is that their own investments will just disapear. Be careful what you cheer for.

 

The piece that stands out is that most of the heavy advertisers over the last year appear to be the guys in trouble.
WaMu UBS AIG. who else is on the list.