I think you're right. It's okay for the funds to say it will be alright in the long term, but do we seniors have the time to wait for the turnaround. With the spiralling cost of living, we seniors need all the cash we can get. I retired 8 years ago, and can probably only afford to live a couple more years the way things are going.

If things get much tougher.....road-kill will be on the menu at my place.

If you put the bulk of your super into a cash fund you always have the option of transfering to a growth or balanced fund later on when/or if things improve . Find a reliable financial advisor and see what he thinks.

I am puzzled by the sub prime crisis. Who owns the 18 million homes which are empty? And where are the people who used be in those homes now living? Where do they find 18 million rental properties to live in?

Apparently their rules are very different from Australia.

Can someone please explain the system in U.S.A.?

I agree that there are tougher times ahaead--and those that have super--have lost so much--fine if you have time to wait till it improves but many okder folks do not---be careful of financial advisers--get advice but do make up your own mind--as most of the time the financial advisers get a cut of for years to come--that comes out of your pocket.



Who owns the homes now--THE BANKS DO--makes you wonder if it was a plan to lend to folks who had NO hope of paying back when interest rates went up--(Many younger ones have never seen high interest rates) the same thing happened during the great depression--but the powers to be--found plenty of money for a war.

If you put the bulk of your super into a cash fund you always have the option of transfering to a growth or balanced fund later on when/or if things improve . Find a reliable financial advisor and see what he thinks.



World events are certainly rubbing off to us here in Aus.........I am thinking that a property investment of ours should be sold and the money banked on fixed deposit which with our bank is currently 8.5 percent at 3 months call

Been a while since I retired, and the laws on Super keep on changing, but I think my money (about 48K) had to go into some sort of pension fund to avoid heavy taxation. I chose an allocated pension with a split between Balanced, Stable and Cash Funds. I draw the minimum amount of pension allowed and up to the last 9 months or so the capital has remained pretty stable and WAS pretty much the same amount as I started with. Wondering if I should increase the pension rate to maximum and put the pension into a high interest account or stick it out and wait/hope for improvement.

I am thinking that a property investment of ours should be sold and the money banked on fixed deposit



Selling? It will all depend on where your investment property is but house prices are falling here in SA. A friend in a neighbouring suburb of Christies Beach has had her (nice 4br) home on the market for a couple of months and not had a strong nibble.



The paper last week said property values have fallen by 20% in the same area, which makes me wonder why the Council has upped the value of my home by around 22% this year? I'm not as bad off as some poor devils whose property value has jumped by over 40%. Another case of squeezing the cash cow?

According to most financial consultants/banks etc.



You need a MINIMUM of 50K ($50,000) per year to live modestly.



You can exist on less



You can certainly live with more.

Wondering if I should increase the pension rate to maximum and put the pension into a high interest account or stick it out and wait/hope for improvement.



.................................



Contrary to what I said in a previous post Keith about high fixed term interest rates a news item this evening said that interest rates are about to drop maybe by at least ONE percent...............Its all due to an unprecedented fall in Retail trading and that inflation has fallen a bit too low ............and a bit too soon ............clay

Yes Clay I saw that about interest rates. Probably leave the money as is. I think the maximum pension I could draw out would be around $400-500 monthly so it would take a while to build up a sizeable account and by that time things could change. I'll always end up taking the wrong option, it's in my genes.

And I have found out recently Keith that whilst we think that Financial advisors know what they are doing they make mistakes also ............My shares in property have dipped a fair bit but I will ride it out on the basis that ...........it must get better ..........so they tell me .......LOL