Day 4 Personal Finances

The stock market continues to make me crazy. When I began the 401 (k) process, I thought, "How can the market go haywire when baby boomers (the snake in the python) make up such a huge target market?" Well, I underestimated the power of the real players. It doesn't matter than millions of boomers have their retirement accounts tied up in Wall Street. Wall Street doesn't care about us. We're fodder in a money making machine, and Wall Street is all about making money for the big boys. Pardon me if billions and trillions don't roll outta my wallet.

Anyway, Fred and I are getting spooked. We have some real dollars tied up in our retirement. Some dollars can't be taken out with out tax implications. About 1/3 of our portfolio is liquid. What to do? We're convinced the world markets are only going to get worse before better. We'd also like to reel in some of the growth, if possible, and not be left holding the bag (or empty sack) if things go really haywire in the world.

We also have three grown children, two of whom are married and looking to buy their first homes. All this is food for thought. Do we pull out cash and invest in real estate for the family? This makes up ask what our purpose is, what questions arise from such a purpose and, of course, what the implications would be. If, for example, we pulled out our liquid assets and bought a home in the town our oldest son is looking at, we couldn't buy his "dream" home. It would have to be an investment purchase that we could flip. But he and  his family could live in it and be closer to some of their goals.

We could spend part of our liquidity on a garage, since we live in a 1902 Victorian with none. That "purpose" has been on our list for years. The questions that arise are: What value, if any, will a garage add to the bottom line? Do we build it anyway because we need to protect our cars, other assets?  Do we instead repair fences (which we'll probably not be able to interest our neighbors in) to the tune of half the cost of the garage?

Questions, questions. Critical thinking is paramount. We have a wonderful family. We want to continue to support our family members with our financial assets when possible and still retain retirement capital. But our retirement is far from secure in today's market. Maybe family real estate is the answer. Believe me, we have a lot of thinking to do that matters not only to us, but to the future of our entire clan.