How To Protect Yourself From The Coming Financial Crisis (continued)

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

How To Protect Yourself From The Coming Financial Crisis (continued)
Posted with permission from http://www.saneramblings.com

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are battling to survive. If one or more of these giants collapse it will bring huge job losses, imperil the retirement income and medical care of millions of retirees, risk defaults on billions of dollars in bonds and banking lines of credit and decimate shareholders, among them some of the U.S.'s largest financial institutions.

Such a collapse could set off a tidal wave of destruction to the U.S. and global economies. The U.S. taxpayer and the U.S. government's ability to borrow money is already back stopping massive real estate lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with staggering exposure. There may not be room for another grossly mismanaged falling giant, and there are plenty of them.

A case in point is large California based lender, Downey Savings which last week revealed it's near collapse. Downey loaned heavily not to sub-prime borrowers to buy homes but to prime borrowers with good credit. Now those borrowers have begun to default in huge numbers. Downey too would like a government bailout with your money.

In other news the U.S. jobless rate hit its highest level in four years. This means many people can no longer afford their house payments nor their credit card bills and other expenses, unless they can find employment soon in a sinking economy.

Many state governments also have big financial shortfalls. California, the most populated state has a $15 billion deficit and no budget for a fiscal year that began July 1st. It layed off 22,000 workers, cut the pay of some others and froze hiring. California and many other states will raise taxes or fees and slash services.

With this growing carnage confronting us all, please be very careful in your spending and put your savings in FDIC insured accounts. If you can earn extra income, save that money unless you have large credit card debts. If so use it to pay down your credit cards, for you're probably being charged in excess of 20% on the unpaid balance.

Get rid of other unnecessary financial exposure. If you have a boat, a motorcycle, an extra car or other toys not critical to your well being, especially if you have it on payments, sell it immediately before its value declines further.

Also, contact an accountant and discuss your expenses to structure as many as possible to become tax deductible. This alone could save you potentially thousands of dollars.

Think of yourself as being on a small boat about to be hit by a storm in the Pacific Ocean. As you see the waves growing bigger and hear the force of the winds already howling loudly, navigate your boat into a safe harbor ASAP.

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[global1]

1. Please Clarify FDIC Insured Accounts For Me....

If one has three accounts in the same bank is each insured up to $100,000 or is it the total of all three accounts that is insured?

If the three add up to more than $100,000 together - does one only get up to $100,000 insured and potentially lose the amount over $100,000?

If that be the case - can one protect ones money by transferring the amount over $100,000 to another bank?

[mnhtnbb]

2. The insurance is per depositor/per bank.

See the link for answers to FAQ http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/deposit/faqs/index.html

[Liberal Gramma]

5. Per ownership of the account

You can have 100K in your name, 100K in your mate's name, and 100K in your names jointly. At that point you have to look for another bank(we all wish we had such a problem)

[kaygore]

3. I transferred my retirement money to an off-shore Lloyds of London account

It is in euros. Do you think that this is safe? I have no debt and owe nothing on my car, credit cards, house, etc.

[earth mom]

4. Dh and I are trying to pay the car off this summer, but no overtime, so it's slow going.

Other than that, we have a relatively small mortgage (as in affordable), student loans, and a few other bills plus the real budget busters: utilities, groceries and gas. Thankfully, we have no credit cards which is the result of living as the working poor for many years. But trying to save a dime is a joke because we still live paycheck to paycheck and own a fixer upper that we are fixing up very slowly to the point of being painfully slow. The only good thing is that my husband has a super duper secure union job that pays decently compared to the job he used to work at a few years ago which was for working poor wages. I pitch in with selling stuff on ebay, but that's not so hot lately either. If only my husbands paycheck wasn't being taxed to death on the one end and nickeled and dimed to death on the other end, we would be alright.

So...I'm thinking we are in for a stormy and rocky ride, just like most of America. :yoiks: