Financial Woes

Not much time to write--I woke up late and have to get to work soon, but I did want to take a moment to review a couple points on the financial situation.

First, as a Washington Mutual customer, my bank has been seized and sold. That doesn't bother me--I just used it as a parking place for my long-term savings since it offers such a high interest rate. I don't have enough to worry about the FDIC insurance not being sufficient to cover any losses. My biggest concern is that JPMorgan Chase won't keep the high savings interest rate. But even if they do lower it to more industry-standard (i.e., ridiculously, laughably low) rates, there are plenty of other high-rate accounts out there.

I also have a couple thoughts on the stock market situation. That doesn't affect me directly since the only money I have invested is for retirement, so I have no plans to take any money out of the market. In fact, I've been considering increasing my IRA contributions this month. But it does affect me in other ways. For one thing, it will probably tighten up the job market, which is unfortunate since I am now looking for work. Even so, I'm in a position to more easily find a job given my education and work history. Perhaps more serious, the tightening credit market means that I'll have trouble selling my house in the next couple years if I need to. But even that isn't too bad. I see no reason that I can't rent it out a while. In fact, that may be better--fewer people in the market for houses means more people looking for rentals.

So the short version is that I will be somewhat inconvenienced. But I'm one of the lucky ones. Many people will find their already tight budgets dry up, and will have to make some serious sacrifices (not just canceling a Netflix subscription). It will be far worse for those who lose their jobs. The fact that things will be so bad for so many only highlights the obligation of the rest of us to help out where we can. This may be financial or in kind, but it will become increasingly important.