We've been watching the market's volatile ebbs and flows and let it affect our moods since summertime. Following the stock market isn't necessarily the most productive way to worry, but many people just can't keep themselves from finding out how far the Dow dropped for the day. Publicly traded companies make up the stock market — can you match the company to its stock ticker?
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Introduced in 1993, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) measures market volatility and gauges investor fear, which explains its better known name — the fear index. Right now VIX is trading very high and indicates that investors are uncertain about how the market will perform over the next 30 days.
Current levels suggest that investors think the S&P 500 will fluctuate about 20 percent during the next month, something The New York Times calls "an almost unheard-of swing."
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As much as we utilize logical ways to cope with the economy, our brains are wired to work a certain way. I'm no scientist, so I'll let MIT Professor Andrew W. Lo do the explaining.
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While there's no doubt the heads on Capitol Hill are spinning with what's been happening in our economy, it's not exactly a picnic for those of us feeling like we have a million and one unanswered questions. Watching big banks collapse and listening to what the news tells us was a horrendous day for the market, followed by the worst day ever, doesn't do much for the people anxiously sitting on the sidelines. Here are three things you can do right now to get a grip on your finances.
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Most of you aren't fans of the government bailing out private banks, but the market reacted more than kindly to the government's announcement that it may create an agency to buy bad debt from banks. Bad debt refers to the mortgage-related assets that were the Achilles heel to once Wall Street giants Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.
The market showed its largest percentage point gain in six years but is still down for the week.
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Current banking events have sparked plenty of questions about what happens to consumers' money when a bank goes under. The answers vary depending on what type of account you own and what type of banking institution you use. How money are you?
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When someone told me she couldn't eat breakfast yesterday because of the history-making day on Wall Street, I knew that panic was officially in the air. The economy has certainly seen better days and it's very possible that we haven't seen the worst of it, and some of you have expressed concern about keeping your money in a particular bank and selecting the safest bank possible to service your accounts.
I cannot predict how far the crisis in the financial sector will go or the lasting effects on the global economy, but I can offer some reassuring information in terms of your personal banking situation.
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A long weekend of talks attempting to figure out a way to save Lehman Brothers, one of the country's oldest investment banks, concluded with the bank filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 158-year-old firm surrendered to failure after midnight last night and the effects could already be seen in this morning's down market. Lehman was left with no other option but bankruptcy after they couldn't find a buyer.
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The wealthiest man in the world is self-made billionaire Warren Buffett, and the $62 billion dollar man was gracious enough to sit down with Parade and discuss his 10 best tips for getting rich. I'm inspired by Buffett's entrepreneurial spirit and tenacity for success; here are his five tips I like best.
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