Financial Fallout

This has definitely been a scary few weeks. I have a friend who had to declare bankruptcy and shut down his restaurant. I have friends and family that have lost thousands of dollars a day over the past few weeks. And a month later, I still don’t really know what’s going to happen.

I was too young when the real estate market crashed in the 80s. So, I don’t really remember the effect it had on society. I invest fairly conservatively, so we have plenty of money in the bank.

But, really, what’s going to happen? And how long will this affect us?

Well, let’s start with the first question. The market closed down 200 points today. This seems like a good day, based on the bloodshed of the last few weeks. Last night, Asia and Europe had huge problems. While I don’t know this to be the case, it almost feels like we’re getting over our cold, but we passed it to Europe and Asia. We’re still in danger of them giving it back to us. So, back to the question.

The markets will go up. Eventually. I just don’t know that anyone really knows when. In the meantime, I think two things are happening. Older people are seeing their nest eggs shrink, drastically changing their lives. The severity of the crash may affect how young people invest for years to come, dramatically changing their futures. While the markets are behaving irrationally now, they have to return to normal at some point.

And we need to return to normal, too.