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LG just up the ante by introducing its own touch screen cellphone a week after Apple made the iPhone announcement. The PRADA phone is a col...
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New York City is falling apart .... Buildings are collapsing , the financial market is in a tailspin and the dollar is not the dollar it us...
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "May be," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "May be," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "May be," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "May be," said the farmer.
ReplyDeletePeople's reactions to this story: www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=11656.0
The worst cases "May be", back to Stone Age, we trade our desk top, TV set, digital camera(s), Rolex , ......... for food ....... like Flintstone !!! ???
ReplyDeleteHa ha. I feel so much better now reading this Taoist story.
ReplyDeleteI have to blame Uncle Sam and G W Bush's Govt
ReplyDeleteOh this story is the old Chinese proverb isn't it? About how losing a horse isn't actually such a misfortune at the end.
ReplyDeleteAs we're all in the same big financial mess/shitbucket, I guess it pays to be philosophical about our earthly fortunes.
Snowdrops, you have a better horizon, you most definitely have a longer investment horizon, so another five or ten years you should be fine.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't too comforting knowing you just lost 1/3 of all your equity in the two week financial shitstorm no matter how philosophical you are. Anyway I know where you are coming from, it's cool. Also people are saying it isn't a loss until you realized it or it's just paper losss. Oh crap now all our money is fiduciary and on paper or on the screen, does it make it less real, I don't think so? It's all paper wealth and loss to begin with until say you buy a Mercedes or a Honda.
you refused to take my advice to buy a new D700, thus you lost
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that paper money is still real money, and I guess as you say I'm not as exposed from an investor or pension fund perspective. But I'm also a relatively newly-minted home-owner, and to be level with you I was (am?) a bit nervous about the whole negative equity thing. Originally I thought, given how I've paid down 20%, I wouldn't be so affected by the downturn in price. But now there's an estimate that house prices might fall by as much as 30%, and that's what had me worrying if I'd turn out like those poor negativity equity homeowners in HK in the 90's who had to get out to the street and protest to get Govt help.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, in your case, you don't look old enough to be retiring in 5-10 years' time? The security guard in our office building just retired a couple of weeks ago, and I'm having lunch tomorrow with a mentor who is director of a charity organisation who's retiring at the end of this month, I don't know how bad they might be affected by all the global financial shitstorm, but strangely they both seem genuinely cheerful enough about the opportunity to enjoy their retirement days... I guess I have to take heart in their attitude to this mess.
You bought your apartment like last year, probably not at the peak of the bubble. You actually bought it as your primary residence as opposed to flipping it. Plus Dublin is attracting companies for its tax and educated labor so there are sound fundamentals to support the real estate market there. Negative equity is always a bad thing. But in your situation, I think it doesn't really make a difference on your day to day life. I am sure you won't lose any sleep over it, you shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteIf I am lucky or unlucky then I have many years ahead of me.
Thanks LCL for your kind positive words about the Irish situation. Let's hope that that is the case indeed.
ReplyDeleteHank Paulsen's now touting a more comprehensive package. Hopefully it means your investments are safer despite the jitters in the market about the global economic outlook.