what’s love got to do with it?
Okay, yesterday when I read the financial headlines I picked up that the market performed weakly because of fears about inflation.
Today, the financial headlines say that the pressure for the Fed to cut interest rates again is mounting in light of new economic indicators on unemployment and the possibility of a recession. And that the Fed just pumped more money than I can yet fathom into the Banks’ hands to get some money in the market.
Wait a minute - I thought that if inflation was a danger, then money had to become more scarce - higher interest rates and less money in the banks’ hands. What is going on here? The media is wobbling back and forth and I am not an economist, so this is not only annoying to me but it is also confusing. Once again, my savings is in danger of growing even slower, because as any ING Direct savings account owner knows, everytime the Fed cuts interest rates, so does ING - and they don’t waste any time about it either. It figures that as soon as I actually have a balance decent enough to get some interest payments worth winking at, the interest rate starts falling like barometric pressure before a thunderstorm. Now I was thinking that as soon as I start working within the next month or so, I’m going to be a financial beast - killing debt faster than a speeding bullet, leaping savings goals in a single bound. The dream of getting my house this year should be made even easier due to the weakness in the market and stagnancy in prices. And my other big ally would be handsome interest payments on my savings, helping me to grow my savings like a champion.
They keep playing with my plans, here. And I don’t appreciate it. And I don’t know what needs to happen here, but I’m bummed. I suppose I should be grateful that higher yield savings accounts are even available - once upon a time, I knew of no such things. It’s still better than what I’d get from even my credit union, and it’s more liquid than even laddered CDs, which I’m thankful for while being in between jobs. Perhaps my feeling is something like that of the people who are either holding onto their homes when they really want to sell, or those who are asking for too high a price for their homes - they want the economy the way it was, when they thought they could make X% of a profit on their next house sale, because the housing market was doing great. Perhaps the days of 5% savings interest are just over for the foreseeable future, and those of us griping about it need to suck it up.
No guarantee means no guarantee. You can’t base your financial plans on something that’s not guaranteed. You hope for the best and roll with the punches. That’s not just for us high-yield savings account holders, it’s for the people whose retirement portfolios are currently taking big hits as the Dow keeps retreating. It’s also for the home sellers out there who think their inflated asking price will work in depressed housing markets. If we’re smart enough to avoid get-rick-quick scams, we have to apply that intelligence to our own get-rich-slow planning, and recognize that sometimes we can’t be so emotionally attached to our expectations.
