Are you worried about the credit crunch? im 16 and it doesnt seem to be affecting my family directly.?

it seems over exaggerated by the media, am i wrong?
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were not rich...lower to average income. we just know how to SAVE money, unlike some...

The media does exaggerate but economics are serious just now, however I have lived through many depressions in my life and am still here to tell the tale.
If your family is ok good luck to you, it depends what industry your parents are in, even they may be feeling the pinch more than they tell you but it can be tougher for some.
Don't worry we will come through this crisis like any other then the media will be worrying us about global warning, nuclear weapons or world resources.
They are never happy unless they are stirring up panic about some new crisis.
Just relax find a good man, make babies and be happy.lol

they are trying not to worry you but we are all being affected

Actually, everyone is affected in some way or another.

Your favourite chocolate bar has probably gone up in price, stationary, general food items, petrol, etc etc.

My fiance works full time and brings in a good wage, whereas I am at university, have student debts and work part time, but the pay is decent. We are struggling financially, everyone is.

We used to go out with friends for a meal on Friday nights, we simply can't afford to do that now since everything has gone up in price.

I don't think you insulting people ("we just know how to SAVE money, unlike some...") actually helps. I know a lady who has been kicked out of her house by her landlord because she couldn't afford to pay the rent, and she did save all her money, but due to the cost of everything else rising, she had no choice but to let something slack, which was her rent.

It may not haver hit yet but these things take time to trickle down. Yes you should be cocerned (rather than worried) and be making some forward plans. Do you/did you do anything about personal finance matters at school?

Wait until Christmas...you'll find that you don't get so many presents and you'll probably have to spend a lot of time sitting in the dark as fuel has almost doubled in price and food is much more expensive. However it may hit you most if you are planning to go to University as you may not be able to get loans to fund the course anymore.Just hope your parents haven't saved with an unsafe banking institution which seems to be most of them at the moment.

YOU DO NOT LOSE IN THE STOCK MARKET UNLESS YOU ARE SELLING LOW AND BUYING HIGH. IF YOU ARE NOT SELLING YOU ARE NOT LOSING. I truly hate when people talk about their loses in the markets and then you ask have you sold out, no, well then how have you lost anything?

yes, i along with my parents and grandparents have lost thousands already in the stock market, with the way things are going i'll need to get more loans for college and i dont know if ill be able to get anymore.

Lots of little things are happening

But lots of little things together can cause disaster -
And unfortunately they are

People are worried if their bank will exist tomorrow
Some are worried if their company will still be there when they go to work in the morning.

One company going down, can take others with it.
If you loose a supplier and can't get another one -- your done
People have been unable to sell cars because the buyers can't get loans.
Others have lost their holidays, our couldn't get home with nowhere to stay

Others have Mortgages that cost more than the value of their house..
So they can't pay their Mortgage and can't sell to downsizes.

There is a lot of Hype -- but it is still worrying
A lot of scared people out there

-----------------------

Having savings is great, I have savings................ not much but mine
I just want to keep it an not be worried if the bank gets into trouble -- none are totally safe.

Even Gold is going down in value, when fuel and food are going up

Hype? some but the threat is real to all of us.

no and you are wrong. the poor and middle class will suffer through it so that i don't have to sell my eighth yacht. so be afraid.

It will....soon enough!!!

You cannot say that you are not affected because we all are - higher fuel costs - higher shop prices - high taxation.

It may not be apparent to you at 16 - you haven't worked yet and your parents probably do - but you will see it soon enough - ask them how it is affecting them - ask them how much food bills have gone up, electricity has gone up, gas bills have gone up.

If they are rich and wealthy - they probably don't care anyway

your family are probably well off and/or don't have housing problems ect

or they could be the exact opposite and be on benefits therefor getting everything paid for.

or perhaps you don't realise because your only 16.

only thing that I have been effected by is the rising price of food I feed 5 of us and my bills gone from ВЈ50 to ВЈ70 and im still getting the same food!

Our family is moving along as per usual I would say. Before the credit crunch, we had started to cut back on electricity and food expenses, and we have just continued to do so. Perhaps it won't affect us directly until we have to properly start paying for it with our taxes.
Ignore that above comment; my family is a modest middle-class one, as I assume yours probably is. It's likely that the credit crunch has affected them more than it has us.

its not over exaggerated its a very real problem and probably not affecting your family because theyre quite well off. the problem is its gettin all this coverage and causing moral panic when we cant do anything about it so its pointless worrying about it.

market is uncertain.they up and down by time to time .but there is no need to worry because is not close yet. only some places where dont make a forecast facing the problem......

No im not worried. Obama will fix everthing.

Its kind of hard to know whether something is "over" exaggerated until after the whole story plays out. But make no mistake, this is serious business. And the President, who is not known for spending a lot of time in fron of the media, has already made several nationwide addresses to the country about it.

I'll assume that your family owns your home. If so, get on the internet and search for your county's tax records; something like:

Xcounty MO tax records

where X is the name of your county. Eventually, you will get to a page where you can see the assessed value of your house, which may well include its market value. And what you will see is how it has changed -probably gone DOWN- in the last year or so. If that is not true in your case, trust me, it is true in many cases. Including mine.

The reason the value has gone down is that housing sales are down -WAY down- and therefore, housing prices have dropped. And the reason prices are down is that credit has disappeared because of all those bad loans you hear about on the news.

This may not affect you right now, or maybe never, depending on your family's income and whether Dad and Mom keep their jobs. But go figure -the country runs on credit. If the credit goes away, people don't get paid and they lose their jobs -exactly what has been happening. And if they don't get paid, they don't buy, and if people don't buy, the demand for goods and servives goes down -and MORE people are out of work. Can you see the dominoes falling now?

Now lets take a look at how your family has saved money. If it is all in cash or CD's or savings bonds, you're in good shape. But tell your parents that is they have any bank account with over 250,000 in it, to open a new account at another bank and spread it around. The government insurance is now at a limit of 250,000 PER ACCOUNT, so if you have more than that, open another account.

If your family has any investments or retirement plans that are based on the stock market, chances are the value of those accounts has gone down, and gone down a LOT. If they don't need the money, they mat be fine until the market recovers. But if they DO need the money -to put someone through school, for example, then they have problems. It is just like someone stole 1/3 of what they had.

Some folks see opportunity here, because, with stock market prices down, it means you can buy stock very cheaply. It also means that the dividends being paid are very high compared to the cost of the stock. Example: I bought some stock which paid a dividend of 10% before the market crash. The stock cost $10 a share, and paid a dividend of $1. That's ten percent. When the price fell, I bought more of the stock because the dividend stayed the same -but was now worth 35% of the price of the stock. The stock cost about $3, but STILL pays a $1 dividend.

Sound too good to be true? It may well BE too good to be true. The reason is that as economic activity (buying and selling) slows down, companies make LESS money and therefore cut their dividends or stop paying them completey -because there's no profit to pay them from. And NOW the stock will fall even MORE because it pays a small (or no) dividend. And guess what, when the dividends dry up, no money is paid out to stcokholders -so they have no money to buy anything. You can see the viscious sylcle here, can't you?

For some, there is a silver lining here. Gasoline prices have dropped, so the cost of transportation has gone down and that will make the cost of goods go down because it costs less to move things around. Thus, the cost of food will probably drop somewhat. Likewise construction material. Now is a good time to be buying material to remodel the basement, for example, because the cost of construction materials has dropped. Why? New home construction has fallen; very few people are buying lumber and concrete and similar materials, so the demand has dropped -and so has the price for it. However, if you need a loan for that basement project -the credit may be difficult to get.

And now is a good time to buy certain cars -demand has fallen, and prices have come down. But if you need a loan -you may not get it, at least, not without a big down payment.

There's no question about; those who have saved money -and saved it AS money- will be the least affected by this mess, directly, anyway. The most important thing for your family is how your parents earn money. If their jobs are at risk, trust me, you WILL see the direct impact.

the words: born, silver, spoon, mouth, come to mind

edit: sorry it was insensitve of me to judge

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