First half of the first day of the week is done and I'm ready for my weekend. Sock boy has already made me laugh twice today with his funny little I'm A MANAGER NOW antics. Well, you got the customary abuse and ignorance down pat, my boy, well done. You'll fit in well with middle management here.
Still learning about derivatives and beginning to understand the global meltdown much better now. Also understanding that the financial crisis will take at least another 2-3 years of clean up. We're not nearly done. This stuff is "weapons of mass destruction", no kidding.
At the same time, I'm fascinated by that market which can bring banks, countries, never mind multinationals to its knees and has already done so, often. I want that job to learn more about it... get as close as possible to the dark heart of finance. I'd love that. Stories galore, plenty of inspiration. I might, ten years from now, write a really funny tell-all book, too.
On the other front, "Lion of Kent" is back at Carina and is being edited in the second round, which frees up a little time for ongoing projects, but I think the main focus of this week is to NOT take a baseball bat to sock boy's kneecaps and prepare for the interview I have lined up and arrange the move. I'm currently surfing websites to buy a washing machine and a fridge - or at least get an idea about the market.
Saturday, I want to go out and measure the walls in the Casa Voinov to get an idea where to put all the books and stuff we own. Maybe this time round we'll even get a dish washer, which would be nice.
Also going to look into remortgaging, but that comes in step 2. But I'm pretty sure we're overpaying on the mortgage compared to the value of the house. Tehehe. I've learnt stuff in finances.
Aren't you a financial ray of sunshine. 2-3 more years? ugh.
ReplyDeleteInterviews before baseball bats. That's always been my motto. ;)
@Amora: It's possibly WORSE than that. I'm being an optimist. I've followed the financial crisis and probably have a better idea than 98% of all people what the hell went on there, but now I'm *really* getting it. And this is so much worse than 200,000 people in the US losing their house.
ReplyDeleteThat, is literally, the beat of a butterfly's wing. You might kill the butterfly, but the storm is already in full swing. It's utterly fascinating. Just - be very, very careful what you're doing financially in the next 2-3 years. Personally, I'm as conservative as it gets - we bought a house, we have a pension, and we have a few gold stocks (not gold, mining stocks, backed by ACTUAL REAL value).
Above all, don't touch anything you don't understand. I understand real estate. I'm staying away from anything else. We're not through it yet, and I do expect more banks to fail in the meantime.
Yep, I'm so with you. People laughed at me when I went conservative about a year before the crisis hit. Then they laughed at me when I said it would take 3-4 years to get out of it. I'm sure they'll laugh again - but, no worries, I'm the one with the safe assets, LOL.
ReplyDelete@Serena: House and gold stocks sound good? The rest is in a private pension and otherwise cash on hand. Fairly conservative risk profile there. But I'm staring, incomprehendingly, at the bank bull run we're seeing. Even if I had excess money to invest right now, I'd be frozen stiff with fear after what I've read.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read Christopher Buckley? I think you'd enjoy his books. And I think if you wrote one about the financial crisis, it would read a lot like something of his. Only hopefully with hot mens.
ReplyDeleteI wish I *got* it. I know it's soooo much worse than 'we' think. We're so self absorbed...Ack!
ReplyDeleteI started my first 401k investments...and then everything crashed. I'm scared to death now!
Bursting your bubble about of all things dishwashers. In no time you will become disggusted with having to unload the clean dishes. Wait and see. We now only use our dishwasher to put cans etc to wash for recycling.
ReplyDeleteNan Hawthorne, whose mind erupts from the Middle Ages once in a while to deal with the mundane world of appliances
I agree about the dishwasher. We've had one in every house and hardly use them. If you have parties on a regular basis and have friends/guests who don't help to wash up then yes, I guess a dishwasher would make sense. Better still, invite only people who stay to wash up.
ReplyDeleteI'm just as worried about the financial climate and am thinking I should sell our present home and downsize, as my husband wants, and stay liquid for awhile. Except that I've got to find where to park all that cash.
Ah, and I know now how to send you a house-warming gift:)
@Semioticwarrior: No, I'll have to check him out. And, err, I did write a novel on the financial crash, but I have to re-work it a little. And, yes, lots of very hot, well-dressed finance boys.
ReplyDelete@Amora: You might stay away from the stock markets for a little longer. :) I'd go for real assets (house/flat) for the moment, in case you have the cash to weather the worst. we have one gold mining stock, and that trebled in around 8 months, but that was a rare and very good tip.
@Nan: *laughs* Okay. Looking at how much completion costs, we won't buy a dishwasher anytime soon :)
@Elaine: No, we're just two, and kinda coping with housework (I spend most of my free time doing this writing thing) - I'm hoping we'll manage to impose a better cleaning/tidying schedule in the new house. In the rented flat we often just didn't care... which is pretty disgraceful.