What it’s like living in a new market environment where the stock market is down and interest rates are low.
I am the cheese, and he is definitely the ham, in more ways than one: I’m talking about myself and my husband. I guess that is why they call us the sandwich generation. We have aging, financially needy parents, two sets of kids, two of which are in university (help!) and two in middle school. And us, we’re just a couple of pigeons stuck in the middle of it all. When I think about our investments and our family situation — well, I wonder if there’s really anything left for us to invest!
Living With Poor Investment Performance
My husband called the other night wondering if there was any new mail. “Yep, your pension statement came,” was my response. “Oh great, how bad is it now?” was Rick’s obvious next question. Happily I can report that his pension is back to where it was a year ago. Celebrations all around! Never mind that most of the money we’re seeing here have been contributions we’ve made over the last 12 months. Frustrating, yes. But, keeping our financial situation in mind, we won’t be touching that nest egg for a long time. This is one of those times when Rick’s attitude of “throw it in some risky, some middle of the road stuff” has been tested the most. I’m always the one pushing for guaranteed stuff.
I am proud of us: so far we haven’t bailed out of anything, tempting though it has been. Maybe that means we have a decently rounded mix of CD’s, stocks and other high risk investments along with a ton of balanced funds. Still though, it has been quite the roller coaster ride. Either that or we were just scared into procrastination.
I remember the “old” days of anxiously waiting for fund and bank statements to arrive. While the markets could have been all over the board, you really didn’t watch your money fluctuating daily. Now with online bank accounts, online brokers and mutual fund sites at our disposal, watching stock prices on websites has got my poor blood pressure going up and down six times a day! (Get a life, I know, I know).
Just when we think things are starting to look up, another few days or weeks come along with the markets deciding to shift direction to the downside. It makes me wonder just how long things can carry on this way. The last few years have been so good, we should have been semi-prepared for a slump/recession, no? I always tell ourselves that, but we always seem to get hit out of the blue and it seems like we’re never prepared enough.
I do feel for some friends who planned to retire in the next couple of years, but with the losses they have sustained this year, they’re thinking of hanging on to their jobs for a while. How heart-wrenching to have saved and planned for years to watch it dwindle and have no control. Having to stay at a job you are really ready to leave can be hard on anyone, including your own employer!
I guess I worry less about the loss/gains in our investment portfolio and more about the work prospects. With our lives revolving around the oil patch, it’s been a pretty scary year. I would be happy if we don’t have to touch our savings to buy the groceries this year.
Living With Low Interest Rates
One good financial thing did happen this year. The mortgage on the condo that my in-laws have been living in came up for renewal. Yippee! Bring it on. Our bank dragged their heels and quoted us a ridiculously high rate, so a’shopping we went. Not surprisingly, the bank across the street was quite happy to vie for our mortgage business. So, with a great low interest rate locked in for 7 more years, we can afford to keep my husband’s parents living in the lap of luxury. OK, it is just a two bedroom condo, but the underground parking is sweet in the winter.
Did the low interest rates encourage us to buy anything this year? Other than celebrating the good mortgage rate, not really. Should we buy a second vehicle? Not yet. Let’s see how that employment thing works out first! 2009 — a little good; a little bad; and hopefully no ugly!
Living With Low Interest Rates and Poor Investment Performance is a post from: Banker, Saver
